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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

LOST: Season 6 Episode 5 - Lighthouse

Hello LOSTIES!! Another episode of the final season is in the books, and it was another really solid episode. I loved it! Broken record? Maybe. But this show just keeps blowing my expectations away with new crazy twists. And, who is with me in anointing Hurley the MVP of the show? Just in this episode alone had had at least 5 classic lines. I hope I don't forget any of them. But referencing both Indiana Jones and Star Wars within minutes of each other is a new record for awesome! This episode gets another bona-fide WOW!!!! from me. And we have so much to get to that I'm going to skip my ramblings and get right into it.

Lighthouse - I'm sure there is some deep metaphorical thought that we could put into why the episode was named this. There is a Virginia Woolf novel called "To the Lighthouse". It's a supposed difficult read full of looking into psychological stuff rather than having much character dialogue. The producers hinted on their podcast (I did a recap of the podcast in the comments of the last blog) that the naming of the episode could have multiple meanings. But, the most LITERAL meaning is what we'll be taking away from it. And I'm really excited to discuss it! But, we have lots to discuss before we can get there!

In this episode, we follow Jack and Hurley on a whirlwind adventure from Obi-wan KaJacob. We also learn some very interesting things in Jack's Flash Sideways. And, in case you were wondering what is going on with Claire, no fear, we learned a whole lot more as we continue with Jin in the bear trap and Claire coming to her rescue. Let's dive in shall we?

Flash Sideways - Jack

If anyone still hasn't noticed, we are following the exact order of the centric stories from season 1. Pilot Episode was kind of Jack but a few others. The next episode was Kate (S1 Tabula Rasa) and then Locke (Walkabout). Jack's first full centric story where we learned of his father dying and the ghost being on the Island was next (White Rabbit). We will continue down this path until the 7th episode which was a Charlie-centric in season 1 (Notice I did not spoil because I did not say who the 6th episode revolves around! You can look that up on your own.). Anyway, unlike the last 2 centric stories for Kate and Jack, some time appears to have passed from Oceanic 815 landing.

Jack's Apartment

Jack has just come to his apartment from work. There are pictures of him and his father around the place. Jack seems to be in a rush. Getting changed out of his scrubs and putting on another shirt. But he looks in the mirror.

It has taken me awhile to catch on, but it cannot be a mistake. There has been a mirror in every Flash Sideways storyline this season. Jack on the plane noticing the cut in LA X, Kate looking in the mirror right before finding Aaron's eventual stuffed Whale (the same one he had in the flash forward episode where Kate was taking care of him), and the scene where Locke is in the bathroom, we see his face on the mirror, right before he decides to call Jack for a consult. He ends up hanging up the phone, but the mirror was still there.

Add on this scene where Jack notices the scar from his appendix being removed. We know from the timeline we have followed prior to this season, that Jack got sick on the Island and had to have his appendix removed by Juliet in season 4. ALSO, in the "Something Nice Back Home" episode, just like Aaron and his Whale. At the time there were questions by Rose to why Jack got sick. She said no one gets sick on the Island, why is Jack getting sick? Does it somehow tie into this Flash Sideways Jack? Well, let's keep going through the scene.

Jack's mother calls him complaining about not being able to find Christian's Will. She is still upset about them losing the body. Jack said the body might be in Berlin based on Oceanic the last time he checked. Jack tries to calm his mother down and says he'll be over soon. But then asks about when his appendix was taken out. His mother tells him he was about 7 or 8 years old. He collapsed in schoo and his father wanted to do the surgery himself but they wouldn't let him. She asked him if he remembers. Jack said "I guess I do."

Okay, so...WHAT? So now, Jack isn't just recognizing things from another timeline, he is forgetting stuff from THIS one? And again, it happened when looking in the mirror. There's also another mirror at play later in the episode. It has to be all related right? Lots of theories have been going on in the blog comments and everywhere in the LOST Blogosphere about maybe the SIDEWAYS Story being how LOST ends. It's the Epilogue to the show and due to unconventional storytelling, this is how LOST gives each character the ending they deserve. We had a suggestion in the comments (Kudos Weasel!) that suggested maybe the Sideways Events happened BEFORE the Island events. Maybe the Sideways LOSTIES are the ones that bring the Island up from the water, and it somehow starts up a new timeline where 815 crashes. All very interesting and thought-inducing theories. But now....I'm starting to think again that these stories are PARALLEL and tied to each other. Why is Jack forgetting how he got his appendix removed in this world when it is still months away for Island Jack who wouldn't have remembered this? (The surgery happens close to day 108 when they leave the island) Eh, I probably won't touch on this too much more and save it for the comments. It's all very confusing right now and I still need more information!

Jack has a Son!?

So back to the story, Jack sees the time (3:51 for anyone that really wants to know) and realizes he's late. We then see him in his car that he was driving around in Flash Forward land season 3 and 4. He goes to a private school to pick up a boy who has been waiting there for awhile. He does not look happy to see Jack. And we learn, that in Sideways land, Jack Shephard is a daddy! And his son's name is David. Woa... We just never know where this story is going to go! Jack's a Dad? How old is he? Who is the mother? Sarah? Why are they not together now? Same reasons?

Back at the apartment, David is very distant from his father. Jack keeps trying to talk to him. He said he hooked up cable in David's bedroom so he can watch the Red Sox (Jack trying to relate to his son with the Red Sox just like he and his father did. Ahhh remember in season 1 when Sawyer told Jack about meeting Christian in Australia and it was all tied together by the Red Sox? Highly Emotional stuff! Remember when Ben showed Jack the Red Sox winning the World Series?! WOW....and that was in that rough patch of season 3! Well, the Sox are back in season 6!)

Anyway, Jack sees that David has a book in his bag The Annotated Alice. It is a work by Mark Gardener who pretty much analyzes Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass. Considering we got 2 Jack-centric episodes one in season 1 named "White Rabbit" and the season 3 finale called "Through the Looking Glass" this was a nice tie-in to keep the theme alive. Again, in that season 4 Jack episode "Something Nice Back Home" Jack reads some of Alice to Aaron. He also mentions that he used to read it to David when he was younger. If you recall from season 4, Jack said that his father read it to him. And it was one of the NICER things he had to say about his father to Kate. We get lots of themes of Jack being like his father in this flash sideways storyline so this all comes together quite nicely. I'm sure there is more to look into here, but I'm moving on!

David is still being pretty distant. Jack just wants to talk to the kid, but David said that they only have to spend time with each other once a month, so he just wants to get through it. Ouch.

Jack's mother calls looking for him. So he heads out . David has no interesting in going over there (we find out he had other plans later).

At Casa Shephard

Jack and Mom are looking through all of the files. Apparently, Christian had given his will to the Lawyers instead of his family. Probably the last moment of this scene gives the reason why!

Mrs. Shephard offers Jack a drink which he declines. She says "good for you" Is that indicating that Jack was a former alcoholic in this sideways story already? Or maybe she doesn't want him falling into his father's footsteps (was Christian an alcoholic? we just don't know). What we do know is that Christian liked the same drink that Sayid, Charles Widmore, Desmond Hume, Charlie Pace and Hugo Reyes like! Good ol' MacCutcheon Whiskey makes a return in Sideways land. And we know that is one expensive drink! Anything to look more into there? Eh, I'm not going there right now. But I did once suggest that Christian had formerly been on the Island prior to the coffin ending up in the cave. And perhaps Christian and Charles Widmore were acquaintances at one time. But, we have seen nothing on the show to suggest that yet except for the linking of Whiskey now!

Jack and Mom have a discussion about David being distant. Apparently, David was very sad at the funeral (which means they had it anyway without the body). There are similarities drawn out of this between Jack and David. Jack was quiet growing up and Christian couldn't get a word out of him. (This sounds like it may not have been much different in Island timeline either. We saw Jack as a boy in White Rabbit and he was very quiet. But Christian also told Jack that he "didn't have what it takes" when he fails). Anyway, Jack's mother advises him to talk to David and make sure he doesn't feel the same way that Jack did about Christian.

Then they find the will. And what name does Mrs. Shephard read in there? Good ol' Claire Littleton! She asked Jack if Christian ever mentioned the name to him. While we don't see Jack's response, I would assume the answer is no. Hmmm...looks like Jack and Claire might unite in THIS timeline as well! I'm very interested to see where they are going with the sideways story! It seems like everything is working towards these characters all meeting up at some point. But for what purpose and how does it tie back to the ISLAND, Jughead and what have you!? Oh boy, I need to stay patient!

Where's David?

Jack returns home with a Pizza and David is nowhere to be found. He leaves him a message and heads to the mother's house. Naturally, she's not home so we don't see who it is! Our first guess would have to be Sarah, which would beg the question of why they got divorced in this storyline and HOW did they meet? Because Jack met her in the other storyline by FIXING her miraculously with a seemingly "Jacob-like touch". What if Jacob didn't interfere in this sideways land? And that boy is relatively older than when Jack would have met Sarah in the original timeline. How long was Desmond training for his race around the world before he was marooned on the Island for 3 years? Couldn't have been more than a year right? That was the same episode that Jack fixed Sarah. This kid is at least 13 years old! So what gives?! I guess Sarah might not be the mother.

Anyway, Jack goes into David's room. We see a keyboard and lots of classical music lying around. The song is Chopin's "Fantaisie - Impromptu". Hmmm, fantasy? Red herring? I'm guessing.

Jack listens to answering machine in David's room and finds out that David had an audition for Williams Conservatory at that time. There was a 2nd message of Jack calling from Sydney after he found out about his father and just wanted to talk to David.

Williams Conservatory

I'm sure it's no coincidence that the sign said "Welcome All Candidates" when Jack showed up. Nice one writers!

Turns out Daniel is quite the prodigy at the piano and is having a fantastic audition. Jack is almost moved to tears.

A boy tells Jack that his son is very good. And this doesn't turn out to be an ordinary boy. It is SIDEWAYS Dogen's son! Woa...Dogen makes a comment about the kids being "too young to have this kind of pressure" And says it's hard to watch without being able to help. He talks about his son having a gift (seems like he's talking about more than the piano but I don't know). He asked Jack how long David has been playing. And Jack does not know. And that's the last we see of it. So what do we think? Is Dogen "in the know" of what is going on in BOTH timelines? Or is this just another coincidental meeting of Island people who are DESTINED to run into each other? People that were all "BROUGHT" to the Island by Jacob?

Outside of the Conservatory, Jack meets up with David and tells him how great he was. David was surprised Jack saw and admitted to messing up a few notes. Jack tells David how much he scared him by running off. David thought he could make it back in time while he was at "Grandma's". Jack then said he didn't know David was STILL playing the piano. David has asked his mother not to tell Jack. Because Jack would always watch over him like a hawk. He didn't want his father to see him fail. This made Jack tell David about his relationship with HIS father and how similar it was. Jack said he didn't want David to ever feel that way about him. In his eyes, his son could NEVER fail. He just wants to be part of his son's life. And with this David agrees. And then they're off to eat some pizza!

Awwwww another happy ending for Sideways Peeps! It does sure seem like life is better if the Island never was in existence so far right? Something tells me it's all a facade and as we dive deeper into Sideways land, all will not be what it seems. I'm biting my nails and on the edge of my seat in anticipation!

Jack and Hurley's Whirlwind Adventure

So we continue at the Temple after some amount of time passed since Jack's hero-esque pill popping incident happens. Jack is hanging out outside fo the temple staring into the water at his reflection (should we relate this to Jack's reflection in the sideways land? to his reflection later in this storyline? Or just director Jack Bender's idea of ART?) Dogen shows up to talk to him.

The Temple - Jack

Dogen was afraid Jack left. Jack asked if that was even an option to which Dogen said "everything is an option, but I would have to stop you." Jack appreciates his honesty. Dogen then asks if Ford, Austin or Kwon are ever coming back. Jack says they probably are not. Dogen then appreciates Jack's honesty. They have their "touche'" moment similar to Flocke and Sawyer last week (Sawyer not disclosing talking to Richard, Flocke pretending not to know what "boy" Sawyer is talking about) and they leave it at that for now.

Some time later, Sayid walks up to Jack and notices everyone staring at him. They don't seem to have talked since Jack's discussion with Dogen and the POISON. Sayid wants to know what Jack is hiding from him. Jack told Sayid that the pill was poison. The OTHERS wanted Jack to kill him. And they said it happened to "someone" else. They leave the scene then to show us some Claire/Jin stuff, but I would assume Jack told Sayid who this "someone else" was. But that's the last of the Jack/Sayid interactions for the day!

The Temple - Hurley

We first see Hurley playing a game of Tic-Tac-Toe with Miles. This is fantastic. First hysterical line of the night "Tie Again Dude" - Miles: "Shocker!" What a ridiculous game tic-tac-toe is. You do tie more often than win or lose! Who knew LOST would throw its 2 cents in?

Hurley then went into the temple to get some food and sees a guy hanging out by the healing spring. He asks if there is food anywhere. It's Jacob and he gives Hugo some directions. DUDE, Jacob?

Jacob then tells Hurley he needs him to do something. Tells him to get a pen to write a few things down. "Someone is coming to the Island and I need you to help them find it." woaaaaaa Who is coming? Naturally, we came close to finding out, but we didn't. Popular theories so far: Desmond, Ji Yeon (The "Kwon" candidate that wouldn't have been born had it not been for Jacob drawing Jin and Sun to the Island?), Charles Widmore, Aaron, someone we don't know?

The first thing I thought when Jacob is telling Hurley to help someone find the Island...well...was that we were going to see a "lighthouse" of some sort! But the 2nd thing I thought is that maybe we'd get an answer to how Richard came and went from the Island (possibly Jacob too) so easily. Remember when Ben asked Richard to "get the man from Tallahassee?" which was Locke's Father? They caused an accident and next thing he knew, Anthony Cooper was face to face with his son? Not sure if the Lighthouse will provide those answers to me, but it seemed we were getting closer!

Okay, so I'm sure lots of people will want to analyze Hurley's arm. But come on let's just LAUGH at Hurley's arm with the directions! He couldn't find any paper, so he wrote this huge thing out on his arm? Good times. The most legible thing we'll see on the arm happens later. Is this LOST's shout out to the first season (and arguably only good season) of Prison Break?

Hurley is sneaking down the Temple Hallways and looking at a bunch of hieroglyphic symbols that we have come to know and love on LOST. I'll be the first to admit I am no expert and if anyone has translations for what is on these walls, by all means post them in the comments, and I'll get them up on the blog with all credit to you!

Dogen finds Hurley and asks what he is doing and instructs him to go back to the courtyard. Hurley's 2nd hysterical line of the night "I'm just you know looking because I'm a big fan of Temples and like history. Like Indiana Jones Stuff" Ahh Good times!

Jacob shows up (only visible to Hurley). He tells Hurley to tell Dogen that he can do what he wants because he's a candidate. Hurley, then repeats this to Dogen and tells HIM to go back to the Courtyard. Dogen wonders where Hurley heard that he is a candidate. Dogen them rambles something off in Japanese that there is no way I can translate. Anyone want to do the honors? 2/25 - Kudos to Horseman for finding the translation on LOSTPEDIA: "You are lucky that you are protected. Because if you were not protected I would cut your head off."Jacob tells Hurley he is better off not knowing what Dogen said.

Jacob then tells Hugo that he NEEDS to bring Jack with him. Hurley said it's impossible to convince Jack to do anything these days. The all-knowing Jacob then smiles and helps Hugo find a way to convince Jack. 3rd hysterical line of the night for Hurley "I just lied to a Samurai!"

4th Hysterical moment for Hurley of the night. He heads out to courtyard and sits next to Jack instructing Jack to be all cool and that he wants him to follow him 10 seconds after he gets up. He found a secret tunnel that heads out to the jungle and that Jacob told him about it. Jack refuses to go anywhere. Hurley then said that he told Jacob he's say that. So Hurley pulls out the big guns from Jacob and says "You have what it takes." We mentioned earlier that in the White Rabbit episode, Christian tells Jack that he doesn't have what it takes. Jack is very intrigued now. Jacob told Hurley that Jack would know what that meant. Now Jack wants to meet Jacob. Anyone remember that I've been suggesting since Jacob was stabbed by Ben: maybe Jacob let himself die Obi-Wan style to become "more powerful than Vader could possibly imagine". Well Hurley confirmed what I was thinking by another classic line tonight: "He's kind of dead. Turns up whenever he wants like Obi-Wan Kenobi" I love this show for putting in writing what we're thinking and usually letting Hurley get to say what the we are thinking! Hurley then tells Jack that if he wants to see Jacob, that he is where they're going. This convinces Jack to go on Hurley's adventure! "let's go see Jacob!"

The adventure begins

Jack and Hurley are out in the Jungle and just happen to run into Kate. This scene was kind of random. Kate pointed the gun at Jack and then smiles and says "I almost shot you!!" Ummm, thanks Kate, Captain Obvious!

Hurley doesn't skip a beat trying to kick Kate out of the group and get her to the Temple. Kate says that she is going after Claire. Jack tries to warn Kate that something may have "happened" to Claire based on the Temple Folk. This convinces Kate even more that she has to find her. Jack wants them all to go together on Hurley's mission and THEN find Claire. Hurley "Dude, she's not invited." (I've lost track but I have to be close to 5 classic lines and there are still more coming) Kate splits ways with Jack and Hurley.

Later in the jungle Hurley apologizes to Jack to "wrecking your game with Kate." I really was laughing hysterically this whole episode! Jack said there was nothing to wreck. Hurley asked what ever happened between them. Jack said he wasn't cut out to be a father (which mirrors the flash sideways story). Hurley thinks Jack would be a great dad. awwww

The Cave

And then, the unthinkable happened. We see an inhaler lying on the ground! If anyone can recall back to Comic-Con 2009, Jorge Garcia showed up to ask the producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse (also the writers of this episode) about how they're going to answer all of the questions. He specifically brought up if we are ever going to find out what happened to Shannon's inhaler. It was a joke at the time because Darlton had been saying that not everything is really a question that they had planned to answer. But what do you know, we got the answer anyway! Turns out Shannon's inhaler had been lying outside of the Caves all of this time. Way to look around guys instead of making Sayid torture Sawyer and have Kate kiss him!

As I was saying, Hugo's directions on his arm led them through the caves. The caves Jack first found in the White Rabbit episode.

But first, Hurley stops by our favorite 2 skeletons: Adam and Eve! I don't think we got our answer to who Adam and Eve were as much as they were reminding us they were still there and is a question they PLAN to answer. As we all know, Darlton has told us that when they reveal the identities of these bodies, we will know they had a plan since season 1!

Meanwhile, Hurley addresses lots of season 5 speculation that the bodies are a result of Time Travel. "What if we time traveled again to Dinosaur times, we died and got buried here? What if they are us?" Hysterical. But, that doesn't mean Hurley isn't necessarily right. Adam and Eve could indeed by 2 of the LOSTIES. Many have argued that it's Rose and Bernard. The problem with Dinosaur and Rose/Bernard theories is that Jack said the bodies were decomposing for 30-40 years or something like that (maybe 40-50) So it technically COULD be Rose/Bernard but they would have had to die like IMMEDIATELY after Jughead and be brought to the caves in 1977. I brought up that it could be the Man in Black and his significant other, but again the same issue with the dates. We will just stay tuned for an answer!

We then see Jack looking at his father's coffin. He tells Hurley why he really found the caves. He was chasing the ghost of his dead father (again - White Rabbit). He said that Christian led him there. And then he smashed up the coffin to pieces. Hurley asked why. Wait for it.....we've been wondering since season 1! "Because he wasn't in it" Okay, maybe we weren't wondering about exactly that. But we were wondering if Oceanic ever put Christian's body in the coffin. I'm still thinking that they did and that the body went missing. And we can debate in the final storyline of this episode if Christian = Smokey or something else. But, I'm still inclined to think something else for now!

The Lighthouse

Hurley and Jack continue on their way. Hurley then delivers another great line " This is cool dude. Very old school. You and me trekking through the jungle, on our way to do something we don't quite understand? Good times!" The best part is that "GOOD TIMES" is on the other end of the quote and not me reacting to the many things on LOST! And of course, Hurley is referring back to season 1 adventures. I would think mainly their expedition to the Black Rock. The producers did want us to get a season 1 feel to the final season. Get a sense of things coming full circle. They wanted to bring that sense of adventure and exploration back to the Island. Well, we're getting it!

Hurley then asks Jack why he came back to the Island. Jack asks for Hurley to reveal first. Hurley tells Jack about Jacob in the cab telling him he's supposed to go back. Jack tells Hurley that he was broken and that he was stupid enough to think that this place could fix it. OUCH. That Jughead "seemingly not working" Destiny mission for Jack has him in a very negative place!

Hurley then tells them they are close. And before we know it, we stumble upon The Lighthouse! And it has a very literal meaning indeed. I mean...it's a LIGHTHOUSE!

Jack wonders how they never saw this place before. Hurley suggests that maybe they weren't looking for it. But, is that the answer? Maybe they COULDN'T see it before? Doesn't seem like it was very far from the caves does it?

Jack got a good line in on Hurley when the door was locked asking if his arm tells him what to do if the door is jammed. Jack kicks in the door and they head up.

And what do we see? We see Mirrors and a Wheel with lots of numbers and names. Some of the names crossed off. Hurley's arm instructed him to turn the wheel to 108.

But let's dissect the wheel for a minute. If this is Jacob's lighthouse, then it looks like maybe he was tracking candidates on this wheel, right? So, I hate to eat my words that I said on last week's blog comments, but maybe Flocke was lying a bit? Even if he was lying, he was sort of telling the truth! But maybe the wall IS Flocke's wall and not Jacob's? Maybe they both have a list of names and are each crossing people off the list? Maybe the battle has come down to these 6 Candidates? (5 if you don't include Locke) We do see the same numbers associated with Jarrah, Ford, Kwon and Shephard. But guess what? There is also an Austin on there at 51 and not crossed off! What does that mean? Is this someone that maybe MIB isn't tracking and Jacob is? Or did we just not see her on the wall? Why wouldn't Flocke show Sawyer Kate's name? I think we actually see a 108 too and it's associated with a crossed off Wallace. Who is Wallace? It could be no one important or it could be a name I am totally forgetting from past seasons. We also see Rousseau on this list pretty close to Jack's name. But I think we saw her on the wall too. Here's a bunch of pictures of the wheel for dissection!

I am sure there will be lots to discuss on all of the names and the comparison to the cave wall.

But then, there is what happens when the wheel is set to one of the names. Images come up in the mirror! It looks like we passed by a couple of familiar locations. Like was that the Korean structure near where Jin and Sun got married? (or maybe it was Japanese and Dogen related?) Was that the church where Sawyer's parents' funeral was? And of course, we know that Jack saw something familiar on 23, his house from growing up that we saw in the Flash Sideways.

Jack gets very frustrated by seeing this. He tells Hurley he grew up in that house. Hurley's response "weird" Jack starts to think it over and realizes Jacob has been watching him since he was a kid. That he's been watching all of them. He starts demanding from Hurley to see Jacob. Hurley just assumed he'd be there. Jack wants to know why Jacob was watching him. He demands for Hurley to ask him. Hurley doesn't know what to do because Jacob isn't there. Jack grabs a telescope and asks Hurley what Jacob wants from him. Hurley doesn't know anything. Jack is losing it and then he smashes the mirrors with the telescope. ooooh boy. And Thank you ABC for showing us that in the previews! At least previews for next week were very sketchy. I like it!

Jack still ain't a happy man! But apparently, this is all part of Jacob's plan too. We'll get there in a second.

I guess I got so caught up in the details, I did forget to mention the NUMBERS again. We learn a little bit more about the numbers. Maybe Jacob just "didn't have a thing" for numbers but the numbers coincide with DEGREES on the Lighthouse Wheel. Now, whether there is a reason that the names have to be at that particular place on the wheel? I don't know. But according to the podcast, Darlton told us that THIS is what they mean by providing answers to things without getting to the very "midichlorian" (star wars prequel reference) detail of things. I'm fine with that!

Outside the Lighthouse

We next see Jack on a cliff looking out to the ocean pondering his next move. Pondering probably his entire existence and figuring out some purpose.

Meanwhile Hurley looks on from afar and gets a visit from Obi-Wan again.

Hurley is not too happy with Jacob. He asked where Jacob was and thanked him for the 7 years of bad luck for breaking the mirrors. Classic! Jacob tels Hurley that he has ink on his forehead. Ahh Ghost Jacob has a sense of humor too! Hurley argues that the mission is "UNACCOMPLISHED" and there is no way for this person to get to the Island now. Jacob tells Hurley "THEY" will find another way. Maybe it's more than one person or are they still trying to disguise that it's a male or female?

It turns out that Jacob wanted Jack to see what he saw and to react the way he did. Jack has to "DO" something and it's going to take Jack to figure out what that is. No one can show him the way. Some people can be convinced in the back of a cab, others need to look out into the ocean. NICE! Jack still does have some purpose. And it sounds very important. Jack is continuing back to his HEROIC self. But just had to hit one more session with Rock Bottom!

Having said all of this, they seem to really be indicating that MIB is Evil and Jacob is Good. And we have been told by Darlton to not make assumptions. So while Jacob is still being all friendly and providing direction, it might not be all that it seems! But it's hard not to support Jacob at this point! This dude has a plan!

I love the relationship Hurley and Jacob are developing too. Hurley tells Jacob to not keep him in the dark next time. He hates secret plans. Jacob seems to enjoy Hurley's perspective on things as well. Good times!

But the big news Jacob delivers is that his real plan was to get Jack and Hurley as far away from the Temple as possible because someone bad is going there! Hurley wants to go back and warn them. But Jacob says it's too late. Hmmm is Smokey headed that way to get his claimed man?

Claire and Jin

When we last left Jin, he was caught in a Bear Trap, and Claire picked off Aldo and Justin with Rousseau like rifle-accuracy! We resume there:

Claire "rescues" Jin

Dirtied up Claire checks Justin to see if he was alive. He is seemingly dead. Anyone that read last week's Cover story in Entertainment Weekly, would have known otherwise!

Jin asks Claire how long she has been out here. Claire told Jin that since they all left and asks how long that was. Jin tells her it has been 3 years. Reminded me of Rousseau and Sayid's first meeting "16 years, has it been that long?" Claire promises to get Jin some place safe. Jin passes out from the pain.

Back at Casa Claire

This hut that Claire made for herself looks very much like Rousseau's bunker. It even has some Black Rock dynamite in there for a rainy day! And it would appear lots of supplies from the Medical Hatch. The one place Claire actually had been to on the Island besides the beach, caves and the barracks. Notice, the cradle that was in Aaron's room at the medical hatch is here as well.

Jin wakes up and his leg is not doing too well. He looks in the Baby carriage and sees something really disturbing! I don't even know where to start explaining? I guess Claire has made herself an imaginary baby? But it sure looks like a creature of some sort! Is it supposed to be a stuffed animal version of Tawaret? The statue? God of Life and fertility? I just have no idea. Anyone want to throw up a suggestion?

Claire's demeanor is very Rousseau-like, right down to the very detail that she is missing her baby and is blaming the OTHERS for his kidnapping. She brings Justin (alive) into the hut and told Jin that he was only pretending to be dead.

A lot of what follows is a back and forth between Claire and Justin trying to convince Jin what to do. Justin was telling Jin that Claire is bad news. Not the same Claire he knew. She will kill both of them. Claire is convinced that the Others stole Aaron. Jin asks why she is so convinced? Claire told him that first her father told her and then her friend told her. So, we know that the last time we saw Claire in season 4 she was with Christian Shephard. We have been trying to figure out if Christian is another incarnation of the Smoke Monster or something else entirely. We'll tackle this more in a bit.

I think we were meant to think that thing in the cradle was Claire's imaginary friend for a bit. But we sure learned otherwise later! Claire then asks Jin if he is her friend. And he tells her yes, of course.

Claire fixes Jin's wound. Sews him up and even brings up that she had to sew herself up after the OTHERS shot at her once. Woa... this Claire is crazy! But at the same time, she still seems like CLAIRE, right? Dogen said that Sayid wouldn't even resemble the person he was before. Claire seems misdirected that The Others have her child and seems angry about it. She develops survival skills over the next 3 years and she could be like this right? Of course, we also know that she is "claimed" but we don't know exactly what that means either. We don't know if she died or not. But we did find out she was also brought to the temple and tortured just like Sayid. So maybe she did die but not in the Barracks Explosion as we previously thought? Well, then why would Miles be looking at her so strangely?

Anyway, she also said that the Others stuck her with needles too. We haven't seen them do that to Sayid yet. Something tells me we need a little Claire backstory. But I'm guessing her centric episode will be a flash sideways. This is the only thing I'm not liking about the Flash Sideways. I hope we still get a Richard back story and a Man in Black backstory and we don't see Off-Island Sideways Richard living in the 1800's about to board a ship that gets to its destination! And I want to see what happened to Claire! But something tells me we were just TOLD what they did to Claire to avoid having to see a flashback. I'm sure the LOST masterminds have a plan!

Anyway, Claire is about to take down Justin with an Ax after repeatedly asking about Aaron (to which Justin truthfully admits they don't have him). Jin, finally bursts out telling Claire that Kate took Aaron and raised him off of the Island. He's 3 years old now. Justin then tells Claire it's true and that he promises if they let him go he won't tell anyone he saw her. Claire, crying, just takes the ax and shoves it right into Justin's gut. OUCH. That Justin sure seemed like a nice OTHER. Oh well!

A Friend Arrives

Claire assures Jin that if she didn't kill Justin he would have killed her. Based on Dogen trying to get Jack to poison Sayid, maybe this is true.

Claire then asks why Jin told her that Kate was raising Aaron. Jin, thinks this over before responding and decides to lie sensing something isn't right with Claire. Jin told Claire he was lying and just wanted to save Justin's life. He then says the others DO have the baby and he is at the temple. Jin says he can take her there and knows a secret way there.

Claire then tells Jin she is so glad he was lying because she would have killed Kate. Oh boy...foreshadowing! Surely, that can be how Kate meets her demise, if at all! At this point, I guess I could say that maybe Claire was not Claire. Something is pulling at her strings.

And right on cue, Flocke shows up! Jin, very surprised to see him (since he probably was informed of Locke's passing), says "John???"

And Claire says that it's not John. "This is my Friend!"

BOOM LOST!!!

Nice!! Okay, so smokey is definitely the one that "CLAIMED" Claire. My first reaction to this was that maybe Christian Shephard IS Smokey. Since Claire was with him in the cabin. But Claire definitely could sense that this man was not John Locke. She knew that it was something else. Now maybe Flocke appeared to her before like when Sun and Ben were at the barracks and Flocke went away for a little while. But Claire pointed out that her FATHER told her Aaron has been taken by the Others and her FRIEND told her. Seems like 2 different things right? So since Christian's body is indeed missing from the coffin (which we were reminded again in the episode), does that mean Christian's body has been CLAIMED by Smokey just like dead Sayid was and possibly dead Claire? And this IS in fact the Zombie season of LOST? I just don't know yet. I'm sure everyone will have theories. But regardless of Christian Shephard's status (who has also appeared in ghost form OFF of the Island to Jack), it would seem that Flocke is going to work on his next recruit in Jin. And will all 3 of them head to the temple together fulfilling Jacob's prophecy of someone bad heading to the temple?

I don't know but I'm excited to find out! Another outstanding installment of LOST. And I will say again, Hurley for MVP! That dude needs to be on every mission from now until the end! Previews for next week, as I mentioned, were very sketchy but ABC assured us answers will be provided. And I am sure Darlton would warn us that ABC gets a little ahead of themselves. But I'm sure excited anyway!

So that's it for this week folks. I'm sorry if I missed anything or for any typos. It was a busy night and morning of blogging and I am a little sleep deprived! But as always, I look forward to our discussions in the comments. Hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I will see you next week! NAMASTE!

Ending Credits

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Oops - forgot to mention that I watched the enhanced version of last weeks - and they mentioned that Rose being in LA was another sideways difference as her and Bernard were from NY in the other timeline. Just thought I'd mention it as I did not catch that one.

Thanks guys! MJ - what david said on the "Lamppost" I thought they might be tied together but looks like one is a Dharma station and the other is a Jacob station! lol

As for posting early...i've been trying to avoid posting at my place of employment....so things have been kind of nuts. Idol's 2 hour live performances, LOST's one hor of awesomeness...Blogs for all. I worked until 1:30 am, probably slept from 2-5 and was right back up typing. Why do I do this? FOR THE READERS of course! LOL and for my own insanity! Work should be fun today!

Nice call on Rose in LA. Of course, Rose and Bernard were flying to LA in the original timeline too. But maybe it was a stop along the way to NYC.

You're probably right on the lawyer thing (like i said Sleep deprivation! LOL) I'll check the video on my phone a little later and modify if necessary. Thanks!

Yep...the mirror thing about Locke not looking was touched on..and I think i brought it up in this blog too that Locke didn't look directly into it. But yes...are the mirrors in the lighthouse and the mirror revelations in Sideways related? Hopefully we'll find out!

I meant to get into the whole.."is this how Jacob and Richard" left the island more...but I think I touched on it. And what was up with the thing in the middle of the wheel? What was its purpose?

Thanks guys for the props and for your dedicated readership and commenting!! lol

Did anyone else think that David's school oddly resemebled Santa Rosa (mental institution where Hurley was on several occassion). Until they showed the St. Mary's sign I could have sworn it was Santa Rosa!

Did they show Jacks tattoos in the flash sideways? If he doesn't have them this whole sideways timeline could be happening just to erase Stranger in a Strange Land from Lost continuity. I think I’m on to something lol.

Jack's wife: Other than Sarah (which I agree might not make sense with the timeline) my first guess has to be Juliet. I have a few reasons for that:

1) We never saw the wife, or heard her voice. This leads me to believe it's supposed to be someone we know

2) It's not Kate (since we already saw kate) which leaves the only other love interest for Jack as Juliet

3) She's a doctor, so it makes sense that they might have met.

Other than her, which female characters are possible? Libby? Anna-Lucia? One thing that I'm not sure about is the music though. I feel like the music component is important in David, and I can't think of a female where music is important.

As far as is Christian the MIB, I pretty much agree with you (and had an argument with my brother over it). The missing body (compared to Locke's very present body), the "locked in form", and Claire's wording all lead me to believe he isn't the MIB (not only did she distinguish between her father and her friend, but she says very deliberately "This isn't Locke", if Christian wasn't Christian, she wouldn't have used the word "Father" to describe him). That said, I don't know if he's possessed like Sayid, or something else entirely (he doesn't have the feral characteristics of Rousseau and Claire, though maybe he plays a different part for the MIB).

As for the significance of the numbers, I'm still not happy if that's the only explanation they're giving us. I mean, yes, they all have to do with degrees, but is there anything special about our numbers when looked at that way? Moreover, is there anything that links the people to the numbers? And, if there is nothing special about the actual numbers (4,8,15,16,23,42) other than they happen to correspond to the final 6 candidates, that makes no sense. See, we must assume that everyone on that wheel was a candidate at some point. That means that the numbers being broadcast must refer to 6 specific candidates, 1 of which (Locke) is no longer a candidate, so what makes them special? And what is with those numbers appearing through history (the broadcast and on the hatch) unless someone went back in time with them? Anyway, I hope they delve a little more into the numbers (without getting all mitochlorian on us).

I agree that Jacob looks like he has a plan, but if anything, I didn't get the fact that he was the good guy in this episode. There were a few scenes where his face looks downright scary. I get the impression that he is hugely manipulative and controlling, and we won't find out if that is good or not until we find out what his plan is. If he's manipulating these people to do something good, then yeah, maybe he's good, but what if his end game isn't "good" at all? I'm still withholding judgment.

Who's coming to the island? I'm putting my money on Charles Widmore. He used to serve Jacob (before Ben took over) and seems like the kind of guy Jacob will want back in these "end times". Also, we know he's been having a hell of a time finding the island. Maybe Jacob is finally letting him back (and maybe he made him stay away for so long so he would be angry enough to do something, not unlike Jacob, is it?). Again, Jacob controls other peoples' lives, because of that, I can't put him in the "good" camp.

Miles looking at people strangely: I've thought about this one before. See, the only possibility is that he seems Claire, Sayid, and such as dead (or partially dead). I say this because Miles can't read people who are alive. We get the impression he gets nothing from them, so getting nothing from Sayid et al would not be strange for him at all. The only strange thing would be to get something (an echo of a message), meaning these people are halfway between the world of the living and the world of the dead. That makes me think the MIB serves a kind of Hades role, master of the dead (raising the dead to do his bidding, killing people, taking the form of the dead, etc). Jacob seems to be playing a lord of the living role (healing people, keeping aging at bay, etc). Now, again, since Jacob is trying to control the living, this might not be positive (as sometimes death is not the enemy, but a welcome friend). I think the black and white will come down to the living and the dead, not the good and the bad, and the question will be "is death evil, or merely a necessity of life".

Also - didn't Claire have a paddle/orr in her makeshift tent/home/bunker? Perhaps Claire was the mysterious shooter from the unseen pontoon boat during the time travel days? It would make sense as Justin said Claire was known to "attack" the Others during her 3 years since the Oceanic 6 left.

LOL nice Stedman, I like that theory! although, I think Jack's arms were covered up so we didn't get to see it!

Steve - agree the EX-wife/mom is probably someone we know. Very interesting on Juliet! Agree it's not Kate since the seemed to not know each other on the plane...even though kate seemed to have a deja vu later. Good point on the doctor! interesting point on the Music aspect of David. The only musician I'm aware of on the show is Charliee! lol Glad we're on the same page with Christian vs. Smokey. Which is funny because when the episode ended I thought we had confirmed exactly the opposite! I needed my wife to remind me of the "FRIEND/Father" comment before I wrote the blog....and then i totally reversed my theory lol Yeah the other thing i brought up was that Christian appeared as a GHOST off-island...and i don't think MIB can leave the island. Although we do know the SMOKE alarm went off when he appeared. So who knows? lol I agree that there is still some ambiguity with the numbers. But they always said they wouldn't be able to provide a concrete answer to them. But with this at least they provided MORE resonance to the numbers. I don't know why they would show up on the DHARMA hatch, or be required to enter into the computer...or be on the radio transmission...where Leondard would hear them.... but they were! I just don't think we're gonna get much more. But totally get if people will be unhappy with that! Oh I'm withholding judgement on Jacob as well...I just said it was hard not to be on his side in all of this. But yeah...there could definitely be an evil intent. I also forget to really talk about Jacob looking at the water in the temple. I wonder if this is why he knew Smokey was coming to the Temple. I wouldn't be upset if it was charles widmore coming to the island. it would make sense! We'll see. I've thought the same way about Miles, just always forget to bring it up. Yeah maybe he's getting no feeling at all from them. It would just be nice if he brought it up once in awhile! Ahhh such is LOST lol

Jack's son David had the bluest eyes. Jack has brown eyes. Biologically speaking, David probably has a mom with big blue eyes. Assuming he wasn't adopted, who has blue euyes that we know? Juliet does. So does Eloise I think. Anyone else?

Sheesh ! Mike you should just remove that hater's comment from the blog ! Jerks. At least remove their link !

What is interesting is how much conversation the characters are having - especially since there has been so much complaining that they never seem to share info with eachother. Now they are - and it's for our benefit.

The Hurley/Jack trek last night also reminded me of when Hurley went after Rousseau and Jack, Sayid and Charlie followed him.

Luckily I don't watch alot of ABC, then ususally watch on DVR so I did not see the promos that they were bad enough to show to us!

So many things are different in sideways land. I think Jack's ex-wife will still be Sarah and the difference is that they met earlier and she never needed saving. Just like the timeline of John and Helen meeting seems to be a little different.

I don't think the whole appendix thing was meant to be Jack forgetting in 2004 LA timeline necessarily since he was only 7 or 8 when he had the surgery. But I do think it's meant to be a de ja vu type thing for 2007 island timeline that we have seen the other side-a-ways have. I'm saying this badly I think - but I feel that they are supposed to have de ja vu and wonder at familiarity, but I don't think we are supposed to believe that LA memories are erasing. It's natural to not quite remember something that happened when youa re 7 or 8. But I do think that the scar looks fresher than it should have if he got surgery that long ago - and that also puzzled Jack

Claire described a procedure that sounded a lot like what Dogen / Lennon did to Sayid. She said the Others did it. If they did, do they have the same equipment and ash and whatever that Dogen / Lennon had? Or is Claire wrong and Dogen / Lennon actually evaluated her?

touche' on the wood for the lighthouse. So I guess it does operate like an actual lighthouse?

i wonder if the lighthouse has anything to do with the bearings people needed to take to LEAVE the island or arrive at the island? and how Daniel discussed the light not scattering quite right? Maybe this lighthouse opens a path to the island? The wheel does have "DEGREES" on it afterall lol Or am i thinking too crazily now?

Mike V.- As far as the whiskey, I think you may have mentioned it on the blog that week.

OK. So, about my theory from last week where the sideways happens before (thanks for the props btw)... still viable, but after the whole appendix scar thing, I am not as set on that theory (although it is still possible).

Or....

The sideways world is showing what is still going to happen. From what Jacob said about Jack still having something to do, maybe the bomb was only the FIRST thing that needed to be done to set things right. Maybe once they do everything they need to do, the island "time" ends and they are now the sideways versions.

One reason for the producers to do this... would you want to keep watching the show if after they finished what they had to do on the island the show continued with what happened after that off the island? Us LOST fans were all up in a hoopla after last season's finale hoping they did not "reset" everything and they went on with the story off-island... remember? We said we would not want to watch it (although you know we still would have)!!! Maybe it is their way of getting to do that while still giving us the ending to the on-island story at the same time. That would account for the "deja-vu" we have been seeing.

Miles can read people that are alive too, to some extent. Remember - he knew that Michael was lying when he boarded the freighter. He also knew (if I'm remembering correctly) that Charlotte had been to the island before. I'm kinda sad that he doesn't have a number, that we know of yet.

I had my appendix out when I was 12 and believe me, you remember it!

One more thought - Jack's ex could be Penny (Daniel is her half-brother and had great musical ability), but I'm also leaning towards Juliet. Or even Charlotte...or Libby...

So Weasel...(no prob on the props) are you changing your theory to be in-line with THE EPILOGUE theory? (e.g. they're showing us what happens AFTER lost since there wouldn't be enough time to show us when the Island story is over in the series finale) It makes sense...but I think because so many people are thinking it...that it's probably not the case, right?! lol

Jenn, I liked that stuff too...forgot to bring it up naturally! (the rabbit) and missed the #23! It is interesting that the kid's name is David though. Just thinking (and probably WAY overthinking). Libby's dead husband's name was David...and Hurley's "imaginary" friend in the institution was DAVE. A connection maybe? I would have been content enough to connect GHOST DAVE as Libby's ex's ghost that Hurley could see lol

As for the 108...if you look at the pictures..we do see 108 and it's WALLACE and crossed off. Maybe Jacob never intended the lighthouse to be used to get this person there. And who on earth is WALLACE?! LOL

I'm so glad you commented on the cave being Smokey's this week because I had a huge breakthrough after a second viewing last week! The cave is Smokey's for several reasons in my mind: 1) Jacob has other hangouts that are cooler so the cave seems like slumming it a bit for him. 2) Sawyer almost died on the ladder which could mean they aren't used very much because there are easier modes of transportation for Smokey. 3) Smokey seems more obsessed with the power balance between him and Jacob so the scale being a focal point of the decor would fit in with that. 4) If the names and numbers on the wall were Jacob's thing, why would Smokey cross off Locke's name-- because it's his list and he was done with Locke!

This led me to my second theory, since it appeared that Jacob was one step ahead of Smokey on the Locke thing which is why Jacob hired Ilana and filled her in on lots of island trivia (extent we don't know yet).. Jacob must have known that Ben was going to kill Locke and most likely knew that Ben would kill him so he sent Ilana to prove Flocke was a fake by bringing real Locke's body. This makes me think that Ben was and still is working for Smokey. We already know from a previous episode that Ben had the ability to call on Smokey from the secret room under his house, so these two have a history. It would also not be the first time that Ben plays dumb in order to infiltrate a group which is why he's sticking so close to Ilana and co. on their way to the temple. So I think Ben killed Locke and Jacob on Smokey's orders and is now making his way to the temple as Smokey's spy.

Sorry for bringing "The Substitute" into "The Lighthouse" discussion, but I couldn't help myself.

I'm so glad you saw Austin on the wheel last night cause I was really hung up on why she wasn't featured in the cave. Do you think the numbers and those characters associated with them have something to do with a reset of some kind. Desmond had to keep pressing those numbers in order to reset the computer. Maybe those characters are needed to reset the balance of the island. I have no idea what that could possibly mean, but hopefully we'll find out soon enough!

Katie - thanks for the props! it's okay for bringing the Substitute into the discussion. no episode is off the record for discussion! We need to discuss all 108 episodes (ahhhh touche') that have aired to be able to theorize! Yeah, after this episode, I'm inclined to back off my "MIB isn't lying" stance and think that MIB was telling the truth but lying about a few things...like possibly "whose cave this was" But i like the LADDER being symbolic to Jacob's Ladder, so I don't know! But it all makes sense either way you look at it. lol Interesting on Ben possibly still working for smokey. I don't know....I'm thinking once he found out it wasn't Locke and he was being manipulated by Smokey...he may have had a change of heart! lol But we'll see. you never know what Ben is going to do! your theory on the numbers and the hatch is as good as any! I am just not sure we're going to get much more on the numbers than we already have. The rest will be for us to theorize forever! Thanks for your comments and welcome to the blog!

duh just realized my comment on appendix scar was incorrect...it was on RIGHT SIDE reflected in mirror as Weasel stated. Man those crazy mirrors get you every time!

Someone on Gather brought up the fact that there are parallel worlds in the Alice in Wonderland Novels.....so it could be a major hint at what is going on. i.e. whatever happens in one timeline impacts the other. I won't claim to be an expert on Alice...but maybe I'll have to go see the Tim Burton version when it comes out next month!

Hi Mike. Just found you too and I suppose I'm not a Lostie (maybe a Loster?) since I didn't watch the show until this past October when I proceeded to watch every episode in time to see this season. (I got tired of hearing people talk about it at work and I would have watched it years ago when it started if I weren't already committed to another show. 24 I think it was then. :-D)

My one and only comment is that the people coming to the island, I am thinking, are Desmond and Penny. When Ben went to shoot Desmond before they all went back to the island, he and Penny and their son were all preparing for a boat ride, yes?

Mike, why do you say that Jack's flashsideways is so much farther in the future after the flight? They are still looking for the will as the episode begins, the funeral is talked about as being recent, and the coffin may be in Germany. I am guessing that even in sidewaysland, that not being able to find a coffin for "years" wouldn't be realistic or acceptable. Add in the message on David's answering machine and I think this is right after the plane landed in sidewaysland. I mean if David is about 13 then would he really have had an answering machine when he was 6 and saved that message for all those years?

Just a note on the lighthouse. It appears to resemble the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world located on an island off the coast of Egypt. Another tie in with the ancient world/Egypt theme of Lost. The Wikipedia entry contains some interesting information.

3:51 on the clock in Jack's flash sideways -- Austin #51 in the Lighthouse -- coincidence?? Possibly...but the producers used to love to throw our favorite numbers into the time shown on clocks in previous seasons. Significance? Beats me. Just throwing it out there...

I found it interesting that Kate's number is 51 and Ford's number is 15. Maybe I am reading too much into it, but there is a nice symmetry there.

Also, I liked finding out that there are 360 numbers (1 for each degree) at the lighthouse. It ties in nicely as to how all of the people from the island are tied together and there is no beginning or end really to their connections.

I think that sidewaysland is an alternative parallel timeline where what is supposed to eventually happen will, but the choices each character makes in each timeline to get there is of their own free will.

Another neat note is that Ben was saved by Richard and Richard said that he "wouldn't be the same anymore". The same could be said about Saayid. Maybe both were claimed when they were healed and kept alive. In the enhanced version of The Substitute they also pointed out how Ben was a hypocrite for moving the others to the Dharma barracks. Another reference to the fact that Ben might have been "claimed" all along? He was also the only leader of the others that never met Jacob, but could summon Smokey.

When Jacob touched Locke after his fall, he seemed to bring him back to life, so maybe this opened up the loophole for MIB to take his form when he died. I am thinking that if Jacob and the MIB balance each other out as opponents, then maybe since Jacob manipulated Locke after bringing him back to life, then MIB can manipulate him after he dies again?

I took the needles that Claire was referring to as the needles used to shock Sayid in the treatment.

I think that the MIB could still have been Christian since the ring of ash protecting the cabin as Jacob's was broken. Also, we haven't seen Christian since the MIB took over as John and Claire seems to suggest that she hasn't seen her father again since also talking to "her friend".

After seeing this episode, I think the lighthouse was Jacob's way of keeping track of the candidates and maybe "appearing" in their lives and the cave is MIB's cruder way of keeping track of the candidates. I still believe they are each waiting for that one candidate (Jack) to settle their disagreement.

I think Sayid has definitely been claimed by the MIB and that is why he didn't cross Sayid's name off the list in the cave. Jacob has made sure the other remaining candidates (Jack, Hurley, Kate, Jin, Sun, and maybe even Sawyer are safely away from the temple). If he believed that Sayid was still viable, I think he would've had him safely away from the temple as well.

Since Locke is still interacting with his father in sidewaysland, could he still have given him his kidney and been paralyzed from a complication in surgery? After all, didn't Jack almost paralyze a girl in his first routine surgery by nipping a nerve sac by accident?

I also think Jack's wife may be Penny. Mainly because of the blue eyes and because she had a son in the other timeline. I think we can safely say that it isn't Kate and the other main possibility is Juliet, but I really thought she was talking about being with Sawyer in another parallel timeline when talking about the whole coffee and going dutch thing.

I also feel that there has been an ongoing duality through the whole show: Jacob versus the MIB, Ben versus Widmore (I agree that Ben has been on MIB's side for sometime and that Widmore is on Jacob's side), but if Jack is going to be the final candidate, then doesn't he need an opposite opposing force? And if so, who is that?

I’m loving the buildup between Jacob and MIB. Whatever their game is they’re both in the final phases of it. Inside the lighthouse all the names around the mirror are crossed out except our losties. It’s the endgame and Jacob could care less. Jack destroys the mirrors and his response is oh well, they’ll find another way to the island. He’s so confident that he’ll prove MIB wrong it’s funny. I think it’s his faith in humanity (namely our main characters) that they’ll eventually choose to do the right thing. Jacob is using everyone as his power players in this chess match while MIB is charging in ahead himself. That will be his fatal mistake, Jacob and MIB are bound by rules but by Jacob using other people that aren’t bound by these rules he can make plats in the game MIB can’t.

I had hoped the lighthouse was related to the magic box that brought lockes father to the island or how Jacob traveled off the island. But it was pretty cool & yes I was upset I wathced the preview with him smashing the mirrors. No more Lost previews no matter how tempting they are to see.

Maybe Ben was claimed when he was healed and that was why Jacob never talked to him, why he killed so many people during his reign and why he was trying to get a baby born on the island...maybe for FLock to take over or to build an army...

Richard said there were greater things that they could be trying to achieve instead of having babies. We need tolearn what that is.

Great call on the shooting from the canoe. There were mutiple people in both canoe's. Juliet shot someone - could have been Claire or maybe Saywer....ok that's a stretch but I want to know who they are.

They never seem to run out of others, with the Aldo & Justin killing over the past two weeks.

Got a feeling that dying by one axe blow to the stomach may not be such an instantenuos death but we had enough gore with the sewing. But I would have liked to see her finished work on Jin's leg.

Miles will survive the Temple assault, but maybe he joins MIB too, we gotta learn more on his powers. Seems that Sayid will join MIB when he shows up with his crew. By the way FLocke can go under the temple but not over.

From last week we heard Flocke used to read, probably in Latin based on how the others speak.

The Dogen being at the recital too was a little stretch for me, he's such a new character and if all the people in the Temple are killed, he's a very short lived one at that.

Good call on the Lighthouse of Alexandria Steve! I wish I could think of these things before I post, but I'm glad there are smarter people out there that find them! afterall, my posts are uninspired trite! (ahhh that just doesn't get old!!)

Monica, WELCOME! I didn't know there was a difference between LOSTIES! My opinion is...if you're on the wagon, regardless of when you joined, you're a LOSTIE! Although, I don't think 24 ever went up against LOST. The only competition I ever remember for LOST has been Smallville and American Idol. Believe it or not, the first 2 or 3 episodes I watched Smallville and TAPED (yup vhs) LOST. I wasn't buying into the hype. I quickly saw the error of my ways! Now Smallville is a chore to watch, even though I still do! lol I had thought similar that Penny and Desmond may ACCIDENTALLY arrive to the island via boat. And that would make sense hence activating the LIGHT HOUSE. I like your thinking!

Jase - ahhh duh me for not noting the 51 Austen vs 3:51 Clock. Probably because I had already written about the clock before I saw the picture of 51 Austen! lol good catch! Also anonymous..good call on the symmetry to 15...that actually is the only thing that makes sense for why they'd throw a random new number out there!

Mike - yeah...the Ben/Sayid similarities are noted...but wouldn't the difference be the possible color of the water when they were put into it? I just assumed that they aren't accustomed to seeing the water that color...so that when Ben was brought there maybe it was normal. But it's a possibility!

Weasel - got it! I think i'll subscribe to all 3 options to be safe! lol

Jenn - I heard people say maybe Oxford as well but I'm still thinking it was the church where Jacob met Sawyer as a boy (for the funeral). Could be wrong though!

Weasel...we also saw Flocke become Alex which was DEFINITELY a smokey incarnation. I think what happened is...once Jacob was killed, that's when flocke got stuck that way. it's the only thing that makes sense!

As for Christian in the cabin...we still don't know if the ash was broken at the point when he was in the cabin. we didn't see the ash then. and when we saw it earlier in season 4...it was NOT broken. 3 years later in season 5...it was broken. so dunno.

very interesting summation of Jacob vs. MIB stedman. I like it!

Thanks anonymous...for all we know..the lighthouse MAY have been the magic box...we don't know what turning that wheel would do? What if anthony cooper was on that wheel as well and they turned it to him and BROUGHT him to the island? I have no idea! just throwing it out there.

whew i'm sure i missed stuff ...but i assure you i did read everything and it will go into my lackluster uninspired TRITE theoried brain! :-) So a thought may spew out in a few hours reciting some of it. of course...i have a meeting in a couple hours...so i'm sure i'll fall behind on more comments then! lol

I loved the whole lighthouse concept, the degrees and the names with the numbers, and the visions in the mirror showing how the losties have been being watched their whole lives. I agree with the discussion that the names on the lighthouse wheel is Jacob's list, and inside the cave is MIB's list. I personally believe MIB is the good guy and Jacob the bad guy.

I've started re-watching from the beginning, and mid-way through season two, I have only come up with a few questions that have not been answered already. The fun part of this show is that for every question answered, two or three more pop up! Keeps it interesting!

Something jumped out at me in the episode where Anna Lucia killed Goodwin -- they were talking about Nathan (the guy she put i the hole). She asked why Goodwin killed Nathan, and he said "Nathan was not a good person, that's why he wasn't on THE LIST." Even though there are people on the lists at the lighthouse and the cave that may not be thought of as good people in the eyes of the law (Sayid, Kate, Sawyer all killed people) maybe from the island's perspective they are "good" for other reasons, like being a good protector of the island. This is where we get our "candidates."

Someone posted that Jacob got everyone away from the temple, and included Sun in that number, but Sun has not made her way to the temple yet. She is still with "shadow of the statue" girl Ilana. That reminds me, what DOES lie in the shadow of the statue?

I also revert back to Charles Widmore telling Locke that there was a war coming. I think he hit that nail on the head! I would like to see him come back to the island - I'm even starting to think of him as a good guy and not a bad guy!

As far as who the mother of Jack's son is, I have no idea, but I agree it's got to be someone we know. I think it would be a cheap shot to throw a new character into the love triangle/square at this point in the story!

Great job, Mike, as always. And you "losters" who are just starting to watch this year, you've started way too lake to throw out theories and questions now. Go buy the DVD's, watch them all, and then comment!

I know the writers won't provide an answer to this question, but I want to know how Jin knows where everything is on the island without going there himself and no one telling him. He should have had no clue where the radio tower was but offered to take the French crew there. And how did he know about the secret entrance to the temple. I guess when a series is in its final season the writers are free to cut a few corners.

Noel - Well, the ironic thing would be that CLAIRE would have the same infection right? lol

Anonymous on the LIST stuff (Cajun) - yeah that list stuff doesn't make any sense. same as pickett wondering why Ben let Jack perform surgery on him when "he wasn't on Jacob's list" The thing is...NO ONE had ever talked to Jacob...not even Ben. Only Richard and I don't even know if Richard had talked to him in awhile. Ben did make comments of following Jacob's orders and his lists. But I don't know if they ever matched up to "the candidate" list or not. But I really don't know what i'm talking about! Thanks for the props!

agreed anonymous...i griped on that last season when he knew how to get to the radio tower....he never went!! Unless Sun drew him a map when they returned. But when came back to the island from the freighter he would have been disoriented! Now...I can understand him knowing more about the island in season 6...because he had lived there for 3 years and was driving around different grids looking for Rose and Bernard. But before then? eh....it was a stretch!

Great recap!Another gripping episode!Glad we got to see the Lighthouse, now this seems more like a Jacob-like abode with all its order, symmetry and neatness! Not like that creepy, dark cave in the side of a cliff that a creepy smoke monster has probably been inhabiting for a good while!Speaking of Jacob, he seemed kinda scary in some of his scenes in this episode. I have a feeling that his knowledge of the endgame (whatever that is), makes him seem very cold and aloof a times. Perhaps he knew that Ben would be the one to "kill" him all along, which is why he deliberately ignored him all those years and fanned his daddy issues hatred?The actor playing Jacob played a pretty scary scumbag on another show "Dexter", so we know he can do evil very well! LOL!"Obiwan" Jacob may not be all that he seems...Speaking of daddy issues, that seems to be a recurring theme on LOST and like I mentioned in last week's episode posting the 3 "Oceanic kids" - Ji-Yeon, Walt and Aaron are being raised by their grandmothers AND all have absent fathers for one reason or another! The next generation's daddy issues being groomed?The Virgin Mary kind of made an encore appearance in this episode to, in the name of David's school - St. Mary's!I suspect we have some sort of multiverse thing going on in LOST. Parallel realities. Much like in "Chronicles of Narnia" and "Alice in Wonderland". Each side "illuminates" the other in small profound ways. They deliberately showed us that the time traveling rabbit CAN exist in two places at once and the time traveling LOSTIES witnessed events they were connected to AND Sawyer said that he could have changed his past in 1974 by going home.Dogen's comment about "watching but not being able to control" in the bizzaro universe mirrors his situation with the "Candidates" on the island.Jack's frustration with Hurley and hIs communications with Jacob reminded me so much of the frustration Locke used to have with Ben and his "communication" with Jacob way back when. Great stuff.Also thought it was interesting that we are wondering who Jack's wife is in bizzaro-land, just as Jack wondered who his ex-wife Sarah was dating way back when in his flashback and ended up smashing up the furniture in Christian's Alcoholic Anonymous meeting when he thought that his father and ex-wife were a secret item.

I think that jack is going to remember his time on the island. What if jacks dad was on the island before and had the same role as jack did but wasn't able to save the people from the island and season 1 would be the sideways life for christian and when he realizes that he wasn't able to save the people on the island that leads to his drinking. I think the shepard family have had their sons constantly going to the island waiting for one of the sons to finally find the loophole which could be jack why in jacks sideways life he has a boy. He has the son now perhaps just incase jack fails. I think that in the sideways version you no longer have the ability to go back to the island. which could explain why christians dead body was not on the island after the plane crash. It could also explain why whidmore can not go back either.

How about this for a final scene: Sawyer and Jack sitting on the beach, watching a ship slowly approach the island. Sawyer turns to Jack and says "Do you know how much I want to kill you right now?".BOOM.LOST.Final promo comes up: Coming in 2014, LOST the Movie!HAHAHA

I just discovered your blog and love it! Here are my random thoughts on numbers relating to Jack & 108: Psalm 23 (Jack's # is 23) says "The Lord is my shepherd." We learned last night of Jack's son named David. Hurley's instructions were to move the wheel to position 108. I looked up Psalm 108 and found "A song. A Psalm of David." Could Jack's son be #108? Could the David's last name be Wallace?

i scanned through the comments...i hope no one has mentioned this...my apologies if it has been stated. anyway...i don't think we should write off the tic-tac-toe moment..."tie again dude". i think this is a HUGE statement. the cave belongs to the man in black and the lighthouse is jacobs. seems to me like there really isn't a good vs evil situation. instead...they are playing a dangerous game with human lives? i know...i know...sounds silly...right?

well...what if they are? it sort of makes sense in my silly head. the mib and jacob have been playing this game for centuries...like tic-tac-toe, no one ever really wins. this time...a loophole has popped up. the game has gotten a bit more intesting and we'll finally have a winner. my money is on jacob. why? he has a number for kate...right? we never saw a number for kate in the mib's cave...or am i wrong?

also...there are more players headed to the island as we speak. who knows who will win. God i love this show. my theory might be a huge stretch but im pretty excited about it...ha!

Also, why does there have to be a "good" and "evil". Do you think they could possibly both be somewhat good, and somewhat evil, like all human beings. Ever since that episode that showed MIB and Jacob sitting on the beach watching the black rock approach the island I thought this was simply a chess game between two men who have been on this island a very very long time. We know one thing though, Richard is terrified of MIB, and that makes me wonder.

So what do you guys think about the whole "claimed" scenario? Do you think it's really claire, but her innocence is lost? Her good? Do you think she has rousseau in her, literally? If MIB is so bad, why is he the "security system" for the temple? Or is he?

@j.dot- I am with you also on the TIC-TAC-TOE moment! All the allusions to classic games (backgammon, chess, baseball, tic-tac-toe) with equally matched players is no coincidence, it must be deliberate!This is some sort of high-stakes competition featuring A LOT of deaths!Speaking of deaths, these Others seem to frequently die very violent deaths! What on earth could be their incentive or motivation for wanting to be an Other?

Back in town and all caught up on Lost now. Dirty laundry can wait, had to catch up on the blog and all the comments. Mike, thanks for the recap.

A couple of thoughts:David (Shephard?) is played by Dylan Minnette, who plays Clay on Saving Grace (I love that show too) They don't list David's last name, which I wonder about.

I wondered right off if his mother was the gal from Phuket that gave Jack his tattoo in 'Stranger in a Strange Land'. Bai Ling was the actor that played her, had to look up the characters name, Achara.

The mother is more likely Sarah or someone, but since David is not blonde, I assumed a dark haired mom. Anna Lucia? Maybe Juliette’s sister? I know that since they didn't name the ex/mom, or have any pictures of her, it is going to be a shock....I can't wait to find out! It would be a great way to try to atone for the left fieldness of Stranger!

Shepard was written larger and all in capitals on the lighthouse wheel, where the other names were not. I wonder if that has any meaning.

I disagree with people who are injecting good/evil and guessing who is which. Lock explains to Walt that the game has 2 sides, light and dark. I don't believe that in the game between Jacob and MIB, one is good and the other is bad per se, just opposing sides. Goodwin saying whoever was not a good person was a great catch, but I agreee that it doesn't really mean that Jacobs side is the good side????

I am so happy to be back home, have a TV again, and the internet to read your blog and comments.

Now to start laundry so I can watch it all again and read up on other sights. A week without Lost or any Lost recaps, aaaaaggggggghhhhhhh!

yeah...im sure the whole game scenario has been passed around but i feel like after yesterdays episode it definitely makes sense.

i feel bad for the others cause it seems like they're the pawns in this game. im assuming the violent deaths come from sacrificing the pawns for the win?

as far as the whole good vs evil...umm, i guess that doesn't really matter. what matters is that there is a winner? we don't really know if the mib is truly a bad person. deaths have been caused by both sides so who's to say one is greater than the other. just goes along with the whole game situation...although, every good game has an underdog.

the more and more i think about it the more the chess situation makes sense. the man in black sent in his knight...sayid to the temple. jacob is sacrificing his pawns at the temple and got his bishop and king out of there. im just using bishop and king...who knows who is what. hurley might be the king? jack might be the king? in any case...i just feel like it fits.

tic-tac-toe makes alot of sense because of the endless ties. chess starts to fit because the game is long but sooner or later there is a winner. well...i guess sometimes there are stale-mates. anyway...this is so exciting!!

I also get the feeling that the flash sideways are setting us up for something... In the first few seasons of LOST, we got all these flashbacks and the general flow of things was that perhaps our LOSTIES were better off with their new island life opportunity as they mostly seemed miserable in their "previous lives". Like FLocke opined - all except Locke didn't realize how pathetic their previous lives were.What if, in this new bizzaro timeline a lot of things make it seem like all is right and good with their lives but down the road we are going to see that all is not what it appears to be?

Jacob "brings" people to the island. It is not of their free will to come. It is their destiny. You are like an image in the mirror. You have no free will. Your movements are destined.

Once the protector of destiny, MIB no longer wants to be controlled by destiny, he want's his own free will to govern his path. He has turned, and wants to recruit for the free will side. If you wish to leave then we must go together Sawyer, because I represent free will, and no one tells me what I can or can't do!

Perhaps Sideways World is Free Will World. But we see that destiny is slowly over-taking it again. Was Jack destined to have his appendix removed in either world? Does one's apparent free will eventually come full circle to be the same (to some degree) as their destiny. Maybe there is a quantum balance taking place in the plan of life.

Anyway, sure is fun to talk about. Thanks again for running THE BEST Lost blog on the web!

Just a quick thought about the "Lists" from previous seasons that have been mentioned in a couple of the comments. What if that was all a fabrication on Ben's part? He had never actually talked to Jacob, but pretended he had. So in keeping with the charade he was coming up with lists as though carrying out Jacob's will -- so that his deception would not be discovered and he could retain his position as leader.

David - thanks again for the props! Definitely saw "jacob" on Dexter...he was a good time! Love that show. I don't necessarily trust his motives either. I'm staying very neutral even though it's easy to be persuaded by ol' obiwan! I also found Dogen's SIDEWAYS comments interesting and made me speculate if he knew if anything else was going on.

Crazy Thoughts - I have always thought similar thoughts about Christian. I thought that he may have been to the island prior. But Season 1 Christian being SIDEWAYS christian? woa...that's deep lol But interesting!

Noel - it would be very interesting to see that scene with new characters as the final scene. I am hoping that whatever happens at the end of LOST is FINAL though. And just like you said...that would definitely leave it open for a Movie lol Darlton have been very adamant that these character arcs will be over after season 6 ends. (But they also said ABC would be foolish to let the franchise die there....we'll see what they mean one day i guess)

Jay - nope...we have seen Jack's mom in season 1 - White Rabbit, season 4 - No Place Like Home and Season 6 - Lighthouse All the same actress!

Thanks anonymous and welcome to the blog! I guess David could be a Wallace....of course for any OFFICE fans...we'd know that David Wallace is the former CFO of Dunder Mifflin! LOL I would just assume that David is David Shephard. I'm liking the Desmond theories right now...especially since they are living on the boat! If he is a major key to the island and "the island is not finished with him" as eloise pointed out...then it makes a whole lot of sense. We'll see!

j.dot...nope no one mentioned the tic tac toe thing....people have mentioned in other posts that there is no GOOD vs. Evil....just Free Will vs. Destiny. I'm all for that. the only argument I have is that Darlton told us that every mythological story such as LOST always ends up being a battle of good vs. evil and season 6 is their version of that (figuring out who is GOOD, who is EVIL and then seeing the result)....So, I'm not sure what to think! Thanks for the props!

Good question on Sawyer lauren...I was wondering the same thing! Maybe he's there with them and we just didnt' see him. I dunno. See my above comments on good vs. evil. But yeah we do go back and forth with that. Usually Evil people have reasons for doing what they do. LOST has a habit of making their "supposed" villains into sympathetic characters. It's happened time and time again. Jin, Sawyer, Ben......

Then of course there were your TRUE villains like KEAMY....he had no redeaming qualities at all. everyone hated him and loved seeing Ben kill him...even if it did blow up Michael. lol I think if MIB or Jacob turns out to be the villain, we'll still get their side of the story and find out why they are motivated to do these things. I have been thinking of Smokey as "formerly a security system"....he had a job that Jacob assigned him...and now he's tired of it and wants to create havoc until he can go home. Or something like that. But i really have no idea. We need more info!

gnni! you're welcome! oh god...i hope Bai Ling isn't the mother! I heard rumors she'd be back this season...which I have no idea why they'd put us through that again!!! interesting about the CAPS on Shephard and largeness. I think we all expect great things from our hero! again...see my comments about good vs. evil above! Enjoy the laundry!!! I still need a NAP! lol

David...definitely agree that the sideways is a setup for something more than it seems now. I think all the interviews with the cast and producers indicate that very thing...hence the "SLOW BURN" over the season. Can't wait to see their plan!

Eric - you're welcome and thank YOU for the major props (best BLOG eh? tell that to the haters on that other site lol) ! I would agree that Jacob and MIB are proponents for Destiny and Free Will. It would seem that MIB is ANTI-Destiny which would make Jacob the other ...or at least manipulating the characters into thinking they have no free will. There are going to be some interesting twists and turns to come!

Jase, agreed on Ben...he may have fabricated some of the lists....although he did bring up the LISTS to Jacob right before he killed him too. So there were some that he took to "his people"....then again..he may have lied about who was on the list. That's the greatest loophole ever for LOST writers....if Ben was involved...he was lying! lol

Noel, I had the same thought cross my mind last week about seeing Jack and Sawyer redoing Jacob and MIB's scene on the beach, although, I'm inclinded to think that maybe we'll see Jack and Claire as Adam and Eve.....with them being the "opposite" characters someone had refered to earlier....didn't we see a black and white stone in the cave with adam and eve?

Kyle, somebody else mentioned that to me today. My thoughts were...all the names on the board are LAST names. I don't know enough about the name Wallace but figured WALTER would be the longer version of WALT lol As for Walt's last name, I forget what it is...it's whatever his mother's name was but I know it wasn't Wallace!

The other issue is...Darlton have discussed at length the issues they're having finding a way to write Walt back into the show because the actor has outgrown his part based on the year the show is portraying. They're still working on a way, but I don't think they'd devise such a large plot piece around a character they're not even sure can return to the show! (i sure hope they find a way though!)

i was just thinking that "walt" might be short for "wallace". anyway...forgive me if this is a stretch...the mib is able to get into peoples bodies. i will assume that when the plane crashed he was able to grab christian...followed by claire...and now locke. he's stuck inside locke and now has left some of himself inside claire and sayid. this way...if something was to happen to lockes body that he possesses he can jump into sayid or claire?

too far fetched? in any case...im still trying to wrap my brain around the sideways world...ugh!

so i never right on blogs, but here goes...hope this idea doesnt suck!!i keep thinking about who jacks wife could be, and i keep going back to when claire and kate (in sideways land) get out of the cab and go to the house where claire's son's adoptive parents live. a woman answers the door and apologizes for not meeting her, saying her and her husband have separated and they can no longer adopt. i keep thinking that maybe her ex is jack?? this house seems similar to the house that jack entered last night looking for david, although i may have to go back and re-look at that.

jacks apartment looked like he just moved in not too long ago and davids room was pretty bare - not much on the walls and jack just had the cable hooked up.

in sideways world, jack doesnt know claire, so isnt it possible that claire doesnt know jack or doesnt even know her father, christian?

Julie: Not sure about the house, but didn't the couple that were supposed to adopt Aaron break up recently? Seemed that way to me... but Jack mentions to his son that his ex kept the piano playing quiet. Jack had no idea his son still played. I think they have been divorced quite some time...

Hello everyone !!! I usually don't post on blogs but I love this show and this blog. After I watched the episode I thought to myself , Jacob did not seem troubled by the lighthouse mirrors getting broken , it seemed to me that he was more concerned that Jack finds his purpose. I do agree with the Evil vs Freewill theory, Jacob seems like he wants the Losties to find their purpose on their own without too much interference from him. As to the 108 number I might be silly but i added up 4+8+15+16+23+42 and it equals 108 , the name next to that # ( Wallace ) is already crossed out. Could it be that no one is actually coming to the island and Jacob was just wanted Jack to find himself and he threw the # 108 as a joke of sert ???

Okay, I know that a lot of people consider MIB to be the security system or former security system of the Temple (working for Jacob).

But what if he is somehow forbidden inside the walls of the temple as smokey, but can enter in the form of Locke? I mean, what if he wasn't working for Jacob but against him in trying to keep the people Jacob wanted in the Temple out. Or looked at another way, trying to keep some people inside so they couldn't interact with the candidates outside of the Temple that the MIB and Jacob are both trying to persuade.

I don't think any of the remaining candidates have been to the Temple before the MIB manifested himself as Locke. And maybe the only reason that Flocke will be able to enter the Temple is because he has a "piece" of himself inside with Sayid.

With all this being said, Jacob is the one who instructed Hurley to go to the Temple with Sayid and then made sure all the other remaining candidates are no longer there . . . so maybe he is setting up Flocke? I just agree that Jacob almost seemed to know the MIB's plan prior to his death.

Maybe the loophole that has been discussed isn't just the MIB killing Jacob, but maybe it is also in him finding a way to enter the Temple.

Maybe Jacob's sense of destiny and Flocke's sense of free will are both progressing. Jacob knew it was his destiny to be killed and it was the MIB's free will that decided to use Locke's body and Ben to do it. But in the end Jack will have to make a decision that tilts the balance one way or the other. If this is the case, then how will they decide if it is free will or destiny, I don't know, lol.

This is out there, but Jack has always fought destiny and tried to save everyone. What if in the end he gives into fate somehow and has to sacrifice himself and/or his friends for the greater good? Would we as an audience be okay with this? I am not so sure unless the Losties get to live a somewhat happy life in the parallel universe.

i like the whole mib finding the loophole to enter the temple...but why does he need to enter?

anyway...iliana grabbed some dust from jacobs death. the only part not covered by the others to protect the temple is the secret passage that hurley and jack go on. maybe iliana will cover that area with what little dust she has? keeping the black smoke out or trapped inside?

As we are working inside the idea of a table game (chess or backgammon) it's very unlikely to have a Good or Evil side, maybe Jacob and MIB are just sides and we shouldn't look for evil or good patterns in their actions.Claire might refer to Christian as someone aside of "her friend" because when he met him the first time she couldn't recognize MIB, and thus we still have that all the Christians on the Island are MIB.

From what I can understand so far, it seems that MIB has two ways of getting his work done. One way is to infect dying people who have the ability to see him for who he is and to follow him and do his dirty work of killing " the other " or as we now know- Jacobs people.

The other way is to take the ID of already dead people who's bodies are brought to the island. We know that Cristian sheppard was dead for sure as I'm pretty sure they double check before the send him out of the hospital :) my question is who's idea was it to bring locks body back. Wasn't it Jack who wanted to take lock back because he saw his dads ghost. Or was it bens idea. Well if it was jacks idea. It may be that MIB used his dads avatar to make him want to take Johns body back so that he has a new pawn in his game to use.

As always it was a great episode and Avery well written and clear recap. Thanks again mike for all this. Yes this deff was one of if not the best set of jokes by hurley... How every .. For now my vote for MVP is on Jack as it always has been since season one :)

Not sure but MIB/Flocke didn't really answer Sawyer's question as to why the names are crossed out. Miles is still alive but his name is crossed out - why is that?Enhanced "The Substitute" episode says Sawyer is Flocke's first recruit, so what does this make Claire?Is Kate, Jacob's loophole? I seem to vaguely remember something on season 1's DVD bonus features about Kate being the original heroic/leader-type character on the show with Jack being shockingly killed off. Perhaps this might still play out?The Jack and Claire reunion should be very interesting indeed.

WOW, lots of comments again. I don't think we have ever been up to 90 on the day of the blog posting. Nice discussion everyone! Don't let the haters fool you! As always, thanks for the props everyone. You are far too kind!

Welcome new commenters!

j.dot...we have to remember...he is not "IN" locke's body...he has "taken the form of" Locke's body. Locke's body is dead and well in the ground! lol The difference with Christian is HIS body his MISSING! (in BOTH timelines no less!) Don't know what to make of Sayid and Claire yet.

Julie - interesting about Jack's ex being the adoptive parents of Claire. Very interesting...but it didn't seem like Jack "LEFT" his wife....just seems like they have been divorced for quite some time now. Oh wait...Weasel said the same thing lol But it is possible that Claire may not know Christian. I'm guessing that Jack and Claire were both unaware of each other in both timelines...but that may change pretty quickly in sideways land!

Mabus - No Jacob didn't seem troubled at all by the lighthouse..and i agree I don't even think he cared about turning that wheel to 108...i think it was all about Jack moving along in his hero's journey. As for the numbers adding up to 108...that is completely intentional and has been part of the show since season 2 with the Hatch Clock resetting to 108 minutes after pressing the button! It may have been a joke on Jacob's part for Hurley to turn to that number....we'll see!

Anonymous - Yeah i could see MIB being forbidden to enter the temple....and the loophole being involved with that. I still think there is more to that temple than meets the eye. I want to know how Richard comes and goes from the island...in season 5 he said "that information is confidential" or privileged information or something like that. It could be Temple or Lighthouse related. But MIB may be interested in that. I still think his loophole was in killing Jacob though.

good point j.dot on the secret passage....i would figure that the OTHERS covered their tracks. Besides...Flocke has a FRIEND in claire...he may just tell her to clean up that ash to let him in lol Doesn't seem like the ASH is getting in his way these days anyway. He'll find a way.

Calbhach - seems like everyone wants to dismiss this whole good and evil thing. All I'm saying is what Darlton told us...this season is THEIR version of the battle of good vs. evil. It seems destined that the lines will be drawn. But in LOST-fashion I think we'll see both sides of the story for both sides. I think in the end, the LOSTIES will team up for whatever the GOOD cause is for the resolution of the show. It just seems like the only way for it to end.

As for MVP...yeah i use the term loosely...i've always been a Jack fan, amongst all the haters. He has been my favorite character since the beginning. But HURLEY, man, he just cracks me up all the time and he was awesome in this ep. Desmond is my other fave...can't wait for his return!

David you're right...he didn't exactly answer to HOW a name gets crossed off...we know it means they're no longer a candidate (or we assume based on what MIB said)...we know if they die they're off the list...but there are OTHER ways to get crossed off too. We don't know THAT! Keep in mind...CLAIRE is already a crossed off candidate. So Sawyer is the first uncrossed recruit. Kate was going to be the original hero when they killed off MICHAEL KEATON as Jack lol yes....but the show has been totally rethought out since then. Remember, they didn't have all of the answers when they filmed the pilot. Once the show was a success, they started flushing out their mythology. That does not mean you're wrong about Kate being part of MIB's plan! We'll see! I have always been looking forward to the Jack/Claire reunion...it's going to be quite interesting like you said with all these crazy twists going on!

Thanks again everyone for all the kind words on the blog. It's nice to know that many more people LOVE this blog than hate it! LOL

anonymous...interesting thought about wallace being Adam or Eve....although, I'm not sure fans would buy it considering Darlton have said that the reveal of Adam and Eve will prove they have known what they were doing since season 1 lol I'm still skeptical on that one!

Mike I just found your blog and love it. I would never find all the connections to other episodes on my own.

I have a few thought and would like everyone’s opinions of them.

I think there are two different lists. One is the MIB’s list and he has his own purpose for it (maybe to replace him). Jacob has a different list and which has its own purpose. I think Jacob wants Kate for his purpose and MIB doesn’t which is why she is only on Jacob’s list. I think that makes her special.

I also think there is more than one group of others but the 815ers think there is only one. I think Ben’s group at the Dharma Compound is MIB’s group and they kill people off without thinking twice and the other group at the temple is Jacob’s group.

Ben’s group might have always thought they were working for Jacob but weren’t. I find it interesting that Ben never talked to Jacob.

hey, i haven't read all the comments so i don't know if anyone said this already.

the last symbol that hurley looks at, the circle with a stand looking thing, looks just like the thing they used in "stargate", with james spader, later became a tv show. they used it to, if memory serves me, travel through time and between dimensions and universes. that film and show, was also heavily influenced by the egyptians, and the circle "gate" was covered in symbols, like the "numbers" in the lighthouse, to direct where they wanted to go.

i saved reading the comments for tmrw. i need something for work being bored

how many mirrors were in the lighthouse? i believe 3 and his ex-wife's' address was 233. jack 23 + 3 mirrors

when i saw fake baby Aaron all i could think of was calling peta to find where my favorite dogs heads vincent was

the funny thing is so many people love LOST but find me a person to get one of jacks tatoos i would run through the electric fence to see it. I think fans would gladly just allow them to disappear and not question it

i still think it is two guys dead in the caves

i still believe this as i posted a couple seasons ago as "mark" look out for Charlie's ring coming back. possible making claire good again just like the music box helped Rousseau. i only said the ring return. music has always been big. i just keep picturing hugo's headphones

i still haven't read the negatives of earlier comments so feel free to crush me

KMike, I am with you about the Jacob and MIB having their own list and the bat cave being MIB's and the Lighthouse being Jacob's. That is a good thought on Kate.I sort of see Jacob side with the good (non criminal) 815ers. Jack and Hurley, maybe Jin and Sun sign up. MIB has Sawyer and it looks like Sayid maybe heading his way. who knows where Kate ends up.Maybe this game has between Mib and Jacob has been played over and over since all of these names are struck thru!!

I am waiting to see how Ben's role plays out. I still speculate he will play a major role.

Wow, great show. I love reading your blog. I have been reading for two hours now.

A few comments based on other people's posts, so credits to them.

I think Desmond,Penny, baby and Widmore are coming to the island.1) lighthouses bring boats safely into harbor2)Desmond came by boat3)Jacob's says they will find another way. Didn't Desmond land on the island because of storm?4)In sideways land everything is happy, so Penny and her Dad are probably on good terms and the family decides to go on a trip5)The rules do not apply to Desmond. So it is possible for Desmond to have the life he wants with Penny in sideways world, but be able to cross over to the island times.

Noel: I love your ending for the show

Is there a similarity between Elosie's cirular thing on the floor (Lamppost?) that could tell were and when the "window" was for going to the island and the lighthouse wheel.

Did any of the names we see for Jacob's or MIB's list belong to any of the Others?

If Ben works for Smokey, why would he move to the Barracks? A place that Smokey can't get in when the fence is on.

Jacob is a huge manipulator. Richard has been his biggest go to guy. I believe that Jacob has known that MIB has been trying to "get him, get off the island, stop the game, etc" (you pick)and has been using Richard to keep tabs on MIB. That's why he has stuck so close to Ben. Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. So if Ben has been working for MIB all this time, Richard would be a spy.

This goes to Katie, who had this idea and I have my own spin.

I agree that the cave in the cliff is MIB for all reasons already mention.

But I just got the "inside joke"

Before the MIB found the loophole the balance of power was equal. That's how we first saw the scale in the cave. Then MIB takes the rock and the scale tips. MIB tells Sawyer it's an inside joke. The joke that was made on the beach about finally finding his loophole.

KMIke, thanks for the props! Glad you enjoy the blog. very possible that MIB and Jacob have their own lists. And based on what we saw, it certainly makes sense. I think even Victoria mentions that there are additional names on the wheel not crossed off. Very interesting!

Someone else asked if there are any OTHERS on the wheel. I think I heard/read somewhere that "FRIENDLY" is on the wheel. Perhaps this is "MR. FRIENDLY" and was put on there as a joke by the writers/prop guys. As I say many times...GOOD TIMES! And I sure hope we see Tom again this season!

As for the group of others...i agree that there are 2 "FACTIONS" of OTHERS but I think they're all part of one OTHERS community LOL Remember in season 3 Ben sent his people to the temple...and CINDY was among his people. He also sent Rousseau, Alex and Karl to the temple in season 4...but they got killed or caught by Keamy along the way.

david...yes...the house is the same in the sideways and in the mirror. I'm gonna guess it's the same house in both timelines...but i think i know where you're going with the question! lol Are the reflections in the mirror from the "SIDEWAYS" world. It's certainly a good question. But i would think Jack's "he's been watching me my whole life" comment suggests that it was THIS timeline. And I know...how would Jack know? Just because that was the way the writers revealed it to us! lol

MK - Jack's expert analysis of Skeletons in season 1 told us that one was male and one was female..to which Locke responded "our very own adam and eve" Of course...this hasn't stopped people from suggesting that maybe the Man in Black was originally a woman. I am not buying that. Though...I did theorize that maybe it was MIB AND his former significant other and there is some emotional JACOB baggage involved there. But the decaying for 40-50 years thing just doesn't add up.

j leonard...interesting on the stargate references...they may have called out an homage to the show there. I guess we'll see if it leads anywhere!

Crazy thoughts...way to read that whole recap and enjoy the comments! lol Thanks for the props. Interesting observation on the mirrors and the address....a stretch perhaps but interesting! LOL Yes, I think there were 3 mirrors. funny on vincent! but we all know he survives to the end of the show! DARLTON confirmed it!

interesting on Charlie's ring...it did make a comeback in season 5 when Sun passed by the old camp. He did leave it behind because he considered aaron and claire family...maybe there's something there. But come on...magic rings? that sounds like another book/movie franchise! LOL Hopefully, that wasn't too crushing! (btw..i mentioned adam and eve above)

I have a meeting guys but I'll get to the rest of the comments afterwards!

HurleyAteMe - I'm thinking before the season is over, FLOCKE is going to try and recruit "ALL" of the candidates. Some may not accept his offer though. And I'm hoping that all of the LOSTIES team up for whatever the BEST CONCLUSION for the Island Drama is by the end. I would agree that Ben's role is not finished in this.

Thanks on the blog props Danica! And you're very welcome for the forum to express your comments! I agree that it is likely that the whole Widmore Clan will arrive at the island...including Desmond. Penny could be a bit tougher given the actress's commitment to FlashForward. But I'm sure they'll get her in there somewhere! Good job getting in on MIB/Jacob's inside joke! He definitely thinks he "tipped the scale" in his favor with Jacob's death.

Cajun...i think you may be getting your jin/sun wish real soon! (but to not be minorly spoilerish, that's all I'll say!)

Okay, so my proposed ENDING to compete with Jack/Sawyer being Jacob/MIB. Very simple...We saw Jack's eye open at the beginning of the entire show. I will be sad if Jack does have to die in the end but it seems very fitting that he would sacrifice himself for the good of the LOSTIES...and we still don't know how this sideways thing pans out. So maybe we'll see some montages to Michael Giacchino's awesome "life and death" theme for the show of happy Sideways resolutions...we'll all be crying tears of sadness and joy.....and then the final shot of LOST...is island Jack's eye closing....BOOM LOST. Print it DARLTON! Granted...my proposal is subject to change based on how this sideways thing pans out! lol

Just to point out Mike V. - your funny comment on Jack's eye closing and fade to black, BOOM, LOST is the 108th comment on this particular post chain! :-)

I thought it was funny that Jack concluded that Jacob has been watching him all his life by seeing an image of his childhood home in a light house mirror located on an island possibly located somewhere in the South Pacific! What ever happened to the man of pure science and evidence? LOL!So great to see Hugo's confidence growing in hi ability to talk to the dearly departed! No longer ashamed or embarrassed by it. Great rapport between him and Jacob.

I noticed that as well David! And I was secretly hoping someone would comment about it :-) Yeah, it's a pretty bold leap of faith on our part to accept that Jack pieced that all together by seeing a shot of his childhood home. But I guess, he's so broken right now and looking for some meaning in all of this...that this was all he needed to see to gain some perspective on the situation. Jack's a pretty smart guy.....i mean...he remembered Ana Lucia's name after meeting her once over drinks.....Eko mentions the name 48 days later....and Jack just understands the situation! LOL We are asked to accept a lot of crazy things LOL

Weasel...very intersting question that I'm sure will never get answered! Maybe it wasn't on ANY number because all we saw was Hurley in the reflection??? Unless that was underwater Hurley in sideways land! LOL

BTW, I also recognized the circle hieroglyphic that Hurley was looking at in the Temple but couldn't recall where else I had seen it. Probably from STARGATE Universe?? I think it does represent some sort of portal to traveling over great distances...

We still do not know Ilana's last name yet. No idea if she is also named on the Lighthouse "wheel of degrees of fortune". Perhaps we should call her Ilana "Smith" just like LIbby "Smith".

The Widmores and Humes return to the island will be fantastic! If Sonya Walger is allowed to come back to LOST due to her FLASHFORWARD work schedule.

I still have my bets on Julie Bowen's Sarah being Jack's ex-wife. Maybe she just wasn't available due to her commitments on MODERN FAMILY, however I have no doubt that she will be back in some form as the LOST team love her work.

On second thoughts, Jack's ex-wife could now be the Italian (or was she Argentinean) beauty that he shared a kiss with that coincided with the end o his marriage to Sarah. The actor playing David kind of looks like a combination of her and Jack. So much speculation! lol!

ahh yes...but the reason that Italian (whatever) woman was even there was because Jack was "THE MIRACLE DOCTOR" that fixed Sarah. If he never did that, would he even have met her?

I could see it still being Sarah but like someone said...they would have had to meet under different circumstances like Locke and Helen (which we still don't know). But i also like it being someone we know like Juliet just to further emphasize the inevitability of these characters being involved in each others' lives.

Agreed, but I got the impression in bizzaro world that Jack does see himself as a miracle worker as evidenced by his really positive attitude toward John Locke's paralysis. Perhaps he still has that reputation at St. Sebastian (with the Dharma logo shaped flower bed, no less)!?

both comments are very good points David! They could really take it in any direction. I just hope that all these questions they're piling up in season 6 can be quickly answered along with the 5 other seasons of baggage they're dragging along! LOL

I still have confidence we will be satisfied at the conclusion....but am also confident there will be several open-ended questions. The question will be...will we care to keep speculating at that point or will we just say "okay...it's over...let's move on with our lives!"?? lol okay..rant over!

I don't know if anyone mentioned this or not, but 108 is the sum of 4 8 15 16 23 and 45 and the amount of time they had to punch the numbers in at the hatch. I wonder how this is related. Also was it 1977 the hatch was built? They crashed on the island in 2006, right? So would mean everyone has to be at least 29...otherwise how would Jacob know about them and mark them 'protected'?

Maybe Prof. Ben Linus is happily married to Annie in bizzaro timeline!Any bets on him being a professor of European History leading him to research about the disappearance of the "Black Rock" in the South Pacific in the 19th century? Or perhaps it is called the "White Rock" now?!

The writers didn't have to let Jack say that Adam and Eve had been there for 40 or 50 years, they could have easily left it open ended, aren't the only significant characters besides Richard that we know were on the island at that time Charles Widmore and Eloise Hawking?

vandee...at this point in the show, I guess I have just made the assumption that 108 is considered one of those infamous LOST numbers! lol Probably why I didn't even bring it up again in the blog. I am guessing this is the same reason the writers used the number again in this past episode...to somewhat tie everything together. Oceanic 815 crashed on 9/22/2004...and Ajira 316 "landed" in decemberish 2007 (may be january '08 but they never specify) There was a 30 year difference between DHARMA Times and Present Day Island times in season 5.

I'm not sure I am following the age thing. I'm trying to though lol Jacob has been on the island for a LONG time. He may have observed these people at different points in their lives. I guess for Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Sayid, Hurley and Jin...he would have had to know about them before they were on the island if whatever happened happened. Kate is probably the youngest but I think she was supposed to be around 26 in 2004. So it probably works out! That just makes my head hurt trying to figure that out again lol

Stedman....niiiiiiiiice!!! That is all I have to say! I still love my theory btw...even though they probably will never revisit it!

interesting about Annie David...woaaaaa...and maybe we could see Ben married to Annie and Annie be SARAH! My old theory still can be proven right in sideways land! lol

that would be crazy if ben was teaching about the black rock. very interesting indeed!

Thanks Brendan! agree on the 40-50years. And very interseting about Widmore and Hawking...are you suggesting that maybe they died but are still somehow alive off of the island? If we follow the non-time traveling people timeline...then yes..those are the only 2 besides MIB, Jacob and Richard that we know about who were on the island then. hmmmm

I to share this nagging belief that Sarah and Annie are one and the same.One of the reasons for this is Ben's idea to use Juliet to manipulate Jack in the shark tank precisely because because Juliet looks a little like Sarah.Also Sarah is a teacher just like Annie's mother - Olivia Goodspeed was on the island during the height of the Dharma Inititative. Sarah is also the right age having been about the age of 7 in the mid seventies.Only flaw is I think Michael Emerson is older in real lie than Ben is supposed to be on the show!

David, The whole reason I thought Annie and Sarah MAY be the same person was based on the first thing you said. Ben told Jack that Juliet looks just like Sarah. The other reason is that Harper Goodspeed (Goodwyn's wife) told Juliet "You look just like her" We never found out who HER was. It could have been Ben's Mother (who is actually Carrie Preston, his wife in real life lol), or it could have been ANNIE. If Juliet looks like Annie....AND like Sarah....then there is the connection. I never saw the resemblance in any of these characters....but I just came up with my crazy theory in season 4 and jokingly have stuck to it ever since! It would be hysterical if Ben was married to Annie in sideways land...and Annie was Sarah. I'd love it! I don't even know if I'd care that there was no explanation to why Annie changed her name lol As for everything else you listed as proof...i'm not so sure I follow it all! But yeah...when Christian wanted to call Ana Lucia, Sarah...i always wondered what that was about...i wondered if he was having an affair with Sarah and that HE was the other man. Then in season 3 "a tale of two cities" they took those speculations to show us Jack's jealous/agry side....the side that drove Christian to drinking again which inevitably led to him performing surgery under the influence and where Jack got him fired. CRAZY! Anyway...Sarah just turned out to be someone for Christian to turn to in his tough times fighting his alcohol addiction. Does this explain why he gave Ana Lucia that name? i guess! I still would love to see the rest of Chrisitian Shephard's trip to Sydney! I just feel like we're missing some key information like HOW he died. Yeah, they told us the cardiac failure...but that seems too easy! HE LEFT HIS WALLET in the Hotel Room! What is THAT all about!?!?! Okay...rant over! lol

When will Christian Shephard get a flashback?!And that weird encounter with Grandpa Ray Shephard and Christian's shoes...4 generations of Shephards now.It seems that some of those Dharma folks and especially the Goodspeeds were very much into pseudonyms and changing of names and identities once off the island.Perhaps Christian knows something about this and called Ana-Lucia "Sarah" as some sort of in-joke?

you never know david...i would love a Christian back story...and maybe since we had a Locke -sideways story even though his character was dead...we can get a christian story even though HIS character has been dead too lol

that is my ONE concern with the Sideways storytelling....will we EVER have a Flashback story in this season? Like for Richard's centric story? Actually...now that i think about it...what if there is no SIDEWAYS for Richard? The island being submerged is AFTER Richard would have gone to the island....DHARMAVILLE is still there and the Foot is still destroyed. We've been assuming Richard came on the black rock.....so MAYBE....his story would actually be a flashback story by default! I just got excited all over again!

I'm also excited for Desmond's episode later in the season...if he's crossing sideways and through time...it could make for an interesting episode! lol Maybe CONSTANT-ESQUE!

Regarding the submerged island and the underwater sequence - there seemed to be more of the statue left in the ruins i.e. the ankh thingy the Tawaret statue was previously holding was now part of the ruins left in the bizzaro universe. This is not the case in the Oceanic 815 crash storyline.Any significance?

Someone also mentioned something about Charlie's ring earlier. I think they might be on to something there. Pieces of jewelry seem to show up a lot on this show and have some significance - Mr. Paik's watch with Jin, the compass in the seemingly never ending loop with Locke and Richard, Charlie' ring, Paul's ankh necklace etc...

Okay, we know the island isn't done with Desmond yet and that he can time travel. Do we know whether Hawking and Widmore interact off island? Anyways, we also know that Penny was on a boat looking for Desmond and that the island and the things around it can time travel through time as well.

Long story short, what if Adam and Eve are really Desmond and Penny? Their love story is one that transcends time, etc.

David, i didn't see the ankh and can't see it in the picture i posted on the blog. I'll have to check that again. From what Darlton said, they were trying to indicate in that sequence "WHEN" this submerging may have taken place based on what was seen. I saw DHARMA Shark, Dharmaville and 4 toed Statue. I don't remember seeing the ankh but that would be interesting if it was there!

as for the watch, ring and necklaces...yeah there does seem to be a lot of that going on. May mean something, maybe not! I have no idea. But the compass? That's a whole different thing! I do love that its in an endless loop though...and no one will ever know where the compass originated...it is just always there! Darlton confirmed that they did this intentionally and there is some kind of named theorem or something out there that they referred to when they discussed it. I totally forget though. That was soooo last season!

Anonymous..the last we saw Eloise and Charles Widmore off of the island..they were talking to each other outside of the hospital where Desmond was after getting shot by Ben. So they're all kind of in the same place.

Desmond and Penny being Adam and Eve would actually be pretty interesting. And of course..going back to my creepy weird theory back in the beginning of season 5...CHARLIE HUME becomes Charles Widmore and grows up on the island and the cycle repeats! LOL

But - Jack's baby mama better not be Juliet or Penny or Dalrton will have a lot to answer for ! They are spoken for. No - I still say that the length of time John and Helen were together was different, so too and the length for Jack and Sarah. And - Sarah (now on modern family) had blue eyes I think.

Where was Sawyer when Flock ws at Claire's hole in the jungle ?

I always go back to Ilana not even wanting to check the cave for Jacob, so I do not believe it is his. Or if it was he gave it to smokey a long time ago.

Sorry if this has been brought up - but the symbol Hurley stopped at when Dogen found him was it a ouroboros - the pin that Mrs Hawking had on ?

And - is this the first time we saw Kate NOT insist on joining a road trip ?

Good question. Only thing I can think of is that I don't think Charles and Eloise are exactly on the best speaking terms. And they more than know each other...they possibly conceived Daniel Faraday together! LOL But when Charles says that "he's my son too" Eloise slapped him. There is definitely more story to tell. But think that there are some "RULE" in place preventing Widmore from returning to the island himself. As for them finding the island? I just don't know. I have been thinking that no one was able to find the island until desmond turned that key and the sky went purple. That's when Penny's crew saw the signal at the end of season 2. We also don't know how often the LAMP POST can detect where the Island is...there may be only so many opportunities to get to it. Okay i'm going back and forth. THE FROZEN DONKEY WHEEL....remember how it wasn't moving at all when Ben went down there? What if the Island was stationary for some reason? And then once Ben turned the wheel...the island started moving around again? MAYBE when Desmond blew the hatch...it FROZE the island in place? I think this was my line of thinking back in season 5. It hasn't been DISPROVEN so I can still stick with it. The reason Ben didn't kill Penny is simple....he saw Charlie (hers and Desmond's son) and couldn't do it. Penny is a mother.....Ben has a love for his mother that he never knew. He couldn't kill Rousseau when he was tasked to because she was a mother as well. I don't think it gets any simpler than that!

man...every time i post i'm a post behind!! This is probably my last post for awhile...have another meeting! lolMJ - totally plausible with Sarah because of the Helen thing. and i LOVE Modern Family btw!No idea where Sawyer was, but I'm sure we'll find out! Yeah...good point about Ilana and the cave...she went from the cabin to the foot...BUT there was a tapestry of THE FOOT in the cabin...so maybe she didn't have to check the cave lol No one brought up the ouroboros...i'm not even sure what that is! but i'll have to check it out! I totally think you're right about Kate not insisting on going on the trip. good catch!

Maybe farfetched, but what if the MIB is David Shepard or related to him and Jacob is Charlie (son of Desmond and Penny) or related to him?

Also, what if Jacob and the MIB are the sons of the same parent but with a different partner? Okay, I really like this theory. Since there are at least two parallel timelines, what if a character like Jack has a son with say Kate in one timeline and Juliet in another timeline? Substitute various combinations of characters as you please, but if Jack is one of the parents, then maybe his big decision that will tip the scale one way or the other will be which timeline/spouse he will choose.

Since the island hops all over through time, maybe the two descendants (Jacob and the MIB) of whichever combination of characters work best, are stuck on the island moving through time, until one or both of their parents makes the crucial decision to bring the alternate timelines together and bring an "end" to Jacob or the MIB.

In this case, neither Jacob nor the MIB would necessarily be good or evil, they would just be competing with each other for their continued existence along with all the memories, etc. that they shared with all of the people they came in contact with. The one who loses will truely be "lost".

Maybe one of the rules of who you can't kill is someone who directly affects your ever having existed in the first place as well as the people who caused the existence of your nemisis.

A variation of this theory would be the same two characters (say Jack and Kate for instance) having a different child in each of the two timelines, but one child or the other must be chosen to merge the parallel timelines again.

This works even better with the Adam and Eve issue in that both Jacob and the MIB are represented at their parents final resting place.

Taking this theory even further, maybe Jacob's timeline was in the lead allowing him to be more permanent than the MIB, but with all of the MIB's manuevering, he is now the more permanent one with Jacob being a ghost to Hurley.

No holes to poke at this time Anonymous. It's very inventive and very interesting! The only hole I would poke is that I'm not sure the MASS Audience would buy that as a satisfying conclusion to their 6 year investment. Then again, DARLTON said that there may be 2 reactions to the end of the show. The short term reaction...and then the long term reaction after people let it sink in. So, i'm going to digest it a little bit and i'll come back to it later! ugh...meeting time! Pray the snow holds out so I can get home and not get stuck here!

naaa it was definitely 108. Check the blog and look at the picture of hurley's arm...at one point you can clearly see 108 on there. If they had to pick a number that is NOT one of the numbers...i don't think they'd go with 180....simply because it's too similar to 108 which has been a big number on LOST since season 2 lol

Wanted to mention that the piano piece that David is playing is Beethoven's 23rd piano sonata..and here's a quirky thing - that piano sonata lasts 23 minutes long.

Maybe this is pushing it, but Beethoven wrote this particular sonata when he was practically deaf. (David doesn't hear his Dad in the episode) Also, the whole piece has a running sort of feel to it. (Just thinking about chasing the white rabbit) It's also one of the few Beethoven sonatas that ends tragically. One of the other's is the 8th "Pathetique" sonata (number associated with Hurley.)

Now for the super-duper-DUPER stretching associations: Beethoven's 4th (Locke's number) is commonly called the "Grand Sonata". Beethoven's 15th (Sawyer) is the "Pastoral".

Beethoven's 16th (Sayid) doesn't have a name, and there isn't a 42nd Sonata (Kwon).

Maybe the latter associations don't mean doodie, but the Jack association is clear...and we all know how our minds go from there! Stretching.....stretching!

Jack Shephard, Daniel Faraday, Sarah Shephard (we are never given her maiden name) and Sun Kwon all play the 88 black and white keys (the number 8 twice!) of the piano rather well in the flashbacks of previous seasons.

great blog! i love reading it! it helps clear my mind and think about different theories.

about the jakcs wife thing, it stilll could be sarah, they could have met earlier and gotten married earlier, like in lockes flash sidewasy didnt him and helen happen at a later time?

with the numbers and how each person corresponds to them, maybe jacob could see the places in the mirrors which means that they are candidates and he went to go see them and when he found out who it was and he wrote down their names next to their number. like he met sun and jin at that place when they were getting married and at that church where sawyer was, maybe thats how he finds his candidates. but idk if that really makes any sense, there are kinda alot of holes in that theory.

At the beginning of "LIghthouse", we see 2 framed photos on a table in Jack's apartment. The first is of Christian, a younger-looking Jack, and an unidentified woman who appears to be "with" Jack....I assume this is David's mother....anyone recognize her?

Jack was playing the piano in "his" house in Othervilletownton in 'The Man from Tallahassee' (season 3), so we know he's musical.

Remember in Season 3 when Eko was killed by Smokie and just before he died, he told Locke that 'they' were next? The Losties present were Nikki, Paulo, Locke, and Sayid....they've all been gotten now. :)

David, I kinda saw the same thing in the pic I had too. Not sure if we can say 100% that it's the ankh, but it definitely would be interesting if it was! And it does certainly resemble it!

Agreed on Rose, Bernard and Vincent. We've see Rose in Sideways land (and Bernard)....but yeah...where are they?? I'm sure they will show up sooner or later!

Thanks Piglet!! even if you determined your post was inaccurate it was still a good time! LOL I figured it was the Chopin piece because of the sheet music in his room. Speaking of the music, David, interesting point about all of the piano playing. I'll throw this out there too because Jorge and his girl Sidekick 22 mentioned it on their podcast....the LOOKING GLASS Station had a musician program their transmission jamming signal...which charlie reactivated. I doubt we'll ever find out who that was....but with David's musical skills....him reading the Alice books....it would be really interesting if somehow he did it. But they're done with time travel stories so that is probably out the window! LOL I would argue that Sarah did NOT play the piano very well! She just played heart and soul with Jack (which is pretty much the first song anyone learns. Well, after Mary Had a Little Lamb! LOL)

Sorry the Wallace/Walt thing didn't pan out Randy! I actually was surprised how many people were making that connection. I wouldn't rule it out 100% but I think the casting issues alone make it doubtful.

Anonymous...yeah it could still be Sarah as David's mother/Jack's ex....taking the whole helen thing into account. I guess the only question would be why they would leave it a mystery. I know there could be an issue getting her back because of Modern Family....but they could certainly show one of those awful photoshopped photos in her house of them all together! LOL

Speaking of which...did someone mention there was a mystery woman in the photo in Jack's apt? I thought that was just Jack's mother?

As for the lighthouse mirrors....if it isn't how he FOUND the candidates...then it's definitely how he kept track of them. I wonder if there is MORE to it though...i mean, those were exact locales of places we saw Jacob visit...(except Jack's house)....i wonder if setting the wheel on that location opens up some kind of "gateway" on and off the island? Just don't know.

Proud Mom, WELCOME! Ahh it was you who mentioned the picture....yeah I'll have to check that but I'm pretty sure it was Jack's mother.

As for the piano, yep...Jack sure does play the piano. in addition to that scene we have seen him playing piano a couple times. In the the flashback before his wedding...where he was playing piano avoiding his vows. And Sarah came down to play heart and soul with him.

Yep...Smokey certainly got to all of them. And if you listen closely when Nikki gets bit by the spider.....we hear the smoke monster "tika tika" sounds for a second.

Not sure if this was talked about, since this is my first entry.....but has anyone mentioned the fact that the reason a women can't conceive on the island is because Jacob wants to be the one to control who comes to the island. We seem to believe that Jacob is the one bringing everyone to the island for some reason, so he kills the pregnant women because the babies are not apart of his plan(candidates).

Random - That is an interesting thought. I don't think anyone has been discussing it. I guess it's as good a reason as any. So are you thinking Ethan was allowed to be born because he is part of Jacob's plan? I know Jacob has some kind of foresight but knowing who is part of the plan BEFORE they're born? yikes...i dunno. I have been thinking that there have been issues giving birth on the island since the purge or something like that. Not sure why exactly that would happen either. That definitely better be something that is answered in this season. And I'm guessing since they brought it up in "LaFleur" last season, it is on the agenda for resolution!

I love reading everyone's comments & theories, however, now that so many people are leaving comments, I haven't had time to read all of them yet. So if anything I think has already been discussed, then I apologize for bringing it up again...

First off, I wanted to say to Mike V. (again)- Great Job, I love it still!!

Ok- my almost 11 year old son has just started watching Lost with me. He became so interested with the current episodes, that I went ahead & let him start watching from the begining. As we are watching them together, I am noticing that in episodes right after Locke sees Smokey in 'Walkabout', you hear a different noise around Locke, (almost a ticka-ticka, but not the strong one we know now) and like, he sneaks up on Charlie, as if he knows exactly where he is & what he's up to. Oh, and how he saved Jack from the cliff. How did he even know that he was hanging from that cliff? I'm standing FIRM in my belief that Locke has been SMOKEY since the begining!!!!

And I wanted to make a quick comment about the Lighthouse. I thought it was wicked-cool! When I saw the reflection of the little korean-looking structure, then the church-like looking structure, THEN Jack's house- Holy Smokes that was cool! If that's the only other explanation we're gonna get for the numbers, then I'm happy!

I also believe that Widmore & possibly Eloise are who Jacob is saying will be coming to the island. Widmore supposedly brought the freighter people, right? We already know that the island is 'not finished' with Desmond (yay!), maybe they'll make it a family trip?

I am so excited about what we'll see next week and the answers we'll be getting! See ya'll next week!

Thanks "cant think of anything"! I agree...love all the comments, but it's tough to keep up! it would be great if i could put a message board on here...but i have no idea how to do that! and with the amount of episodes left, it probably just isn't worth it. But i'm loving that the blog keeps growing...hating that it's going to end! 11 years old and watching LOST eh?? There was some pretty racy stuff in season 3! lol Sawyer, Kate, Polar Bear Cage...need I say more? lol Be careful with that one! I definitely think there have always been some shady elements to Locke since the beginning....what about him just showing up on Hurley in the season 4 premiere after Jacob's cabin kept moving around?? that was crazy too. But i just don't know. it would appear smokey can only take the form of dead bodies on the island. But i guess there is the chance that he "CLAIMED" Locke from the beginning. or something like that. i dunno. definitely agree the lighthouse was awesome! I don't think it's a coincidence that the last time we saw Desmond, Penny, Eloise and Charles...they were all in the same locale....I don't know how it's gonna happen, but I can see them all showing up on the island...maybe not Penny though (FlashForward)...we'll see!

I can't wait for tuesday either! I already know it's going to be tougher with the blog...i'm prepared for many subtitles in my note taking....hopefully that didn't spoil anyone! :-)

Okay, I am not into all the other blogs and such; why bother when Mike's is the best. So my theory above may be too far fetched or simple to be true . . .

Anyways, going on what Mike said about not have a bunch of time travel in this season and what I have read on here many times: "when you're dead, you're dead", then this is what I am thinking in addition to my above theory about the MIB and Jacob being the possibility of two alternate timelines that are intertwined until a character (probably Jack) makes a decision that makes one timeline the only one moving forward, ending the game with the loser having lost in every possible way.

My reasoning is this: if there isn't going to be a bunch of time travel this season, then I don't think the flashsideways plane trip happened prior to the 815 crash. That being said, then characters like Locke, Boone, the marshall, etc. couldn't be alive in the flashsideways (which I think will become the permanent timeline) unless the alternate timeline no longer exists/existed.

And yes, I know that in theory, you can die in one parallel timeline and still be alive in another, but I don't think that is what is going on here. I don't think the show will end with two different timelines continuing. I think what we as the audience will be wondering after the show ends is what if the candidate (probably Jack) had made the other choice and the other timeline (with Jacob or the MIB continued existence).

Now I think that eventually there will be a little time travel this season only because of Desmond being on the plane and then not being on the plane. I am hoping that we get another Desmond centered episode and I don't think we will be disappointed.

Another reason why I think this theory works of two alternate timelines with one being chosen and the other one being "lost" is because of things like Shannon not being on the plane. I know she is on another series, but the writers are smart enough to say something like she was in the bathroom, in the back of the plane, etc. I don't think they would make such a statement that Boone couldn't convince her to come back, if in the end, we are supposed to believe all the events of characters' lives are the same except for the crash of flight 815.

Okay, I also don't think Jack or anyone else is dreaming, in a coma, or anything like that and then is going to suddenly wake up at the end. I don't think he would know all the people on the plane, etc. and the fact that Jack has interacted with so many people on the island that weren't on the plane makes me think it is unlikely for a "Wizard of Oz" type ending.

I think the flashsideways is a nice way of showing us what happened to the characters in the "chosen" time line if the plane didn't crash, etc. It allows the writers to have the big reveal to the show without us all wondering what happened to our beloved characters.

Maybe I am making everything fit my theory, but I like it and it is plausible. At this point with so many questions left to be answered, I just don't see us getting a third or fourth option in terms of alternate parallel timelines.

Mike, I hope you have had time to ponder my theory more and would like to here your thoughts and everyone else's too.

Theory on why when we first saw inside the lighthouse we didn't see anything in the mirror. My guess is that it was set on 4 degrees (Locke) and that is how Jacob knew Locke was dead and the MIB's plan. I am thinking that is what caused him to fill in Ilana on everything for when he was dead.

My reasoning why we only saw Hurley's reflection is that since Locke is dead, there wouldn't be anything more to see on that setting.

Also, Hurley pulled the chain for a little bit, but not that long. We have had it confirmed (Mike said so and that is good enough for me) that we saw the church from Sawyer's parents' funeral (15 degrees). Then we saw Jack's childhood home (23 degrees).

My question is that Jack assumed that he had been watched since he was a child because that was his childhood home. That may be true (I think it is), but what if the reason that his childhood home was in the reflection is because in the alternate time line Jack was at his mother's house looking for his father's will?

I know my question conflicts with my thinking that we didn't see anything because the device was set to Locke's setting: if the device is able to see the alternate timeline, then it should have shown Locke in the alternate timeline, but I am curious as to other people's thoughts on this.

More specifically whether you think it was on Locke's setting and was blank because he is dead.

This ties into my theory again if the current island related timeline is Jacob's timeline and that is why his lighthouse can't see the alternate flashforward timeline of Locke because in that is the MIB's timeline.

As for pondering the theory, I'm always thinking about LOST, so yeah it's been on my mind. I agree that since they made Time Travel such a big thing in the show, for them to ignore it completely in the final season doesn't really make sense. I agree there might be some aspect of time travel but it won't play a major factor anymore.

Agree with the "it's all a dream" theory. That was pretty much dismissed in the season 2 episode "DAVE" and there would be quite a bit of upset fans out there if they went that route!

As for Shannon..they have confirmed that they will get her on the show. But I think if they were able to get her sooner, they would have put her on the plane. I don't think they intended for "everything to be the same" except the flight. There are very clear differences in the 2 timelines....for example: Jack has a son! Locke and his Dad have a relationship. people that are supposed to be on the island...are OFF the island (since it's under water). But...there are things that are similar....Jack's relationship with his father sounds very similar. Claire was still giving up her baby...etc...

so i like the merging of timelines idea...the 2 are definitely related and they need to intersect for this season to make ANY sense. But for it to be something they CHOOSE? I'm not sure.

what you said about dying in one timeline and not the other got me thinking. What if we start seeing the characters dying off on the sideways timeline similarly to how they died on the island? Maybe Boone drives off a cliff and dies of internal injuries....maybe Shannon gets shot in a convenience store by Ana Lucia (accidental shooting)....Charlie drowns for some reason...and so on and so on. THAT is far fetched...but it would be interesting. In any case...things just seem so "HAPPY" for everyone in Sideways land by the end of the episode. They're all facing their demons from the ISLAND timeline and conquering them. I just gotta think something else is going on there...like it's going to build up to something that "ISN'T" such a happy ending.

But i'm totally rambling and all over the place. Anyway, I'll keep your theory in mind as we continue through the season...just like i'll keep the "sideways is before island" and "sideways is epilogue" theories in mind as well! Whatever they have in mind...i'm sure it's going to blow us away!

interesting on the 4 degrees thing Anonymous..and thanks for your faith in my confirmations! but you should give credit to Jorge Garcia for confirming it in the script! (or his girlfriend lol)

Yeah...i mentioned somewhere above that maybe the mirrors are "reflecting" the alternate timelines....it could be possible. Only thing is...if they are indeed PARALLEL in TIME...then shouldn't it be 2007 in the sideways timeline mirror as well instead of September 2004?

But with all the mirror things happening in the flash sideways...it does seem convenient that we saw images in a mirror in the lighthouse...you never know!!

I was trying to say that although it is possible the mirrors are reflecting the parallel timeline, I don't think they are.

I think that since Locke died in the island timeline, then that is why there was no reflection when Hurley and Jack went into the lighthouse.

I think the island timeline up to this point represents "Jacob's" timeline where he seems to be in control. I have a feeling that the "game" will tilt (think of the balance here) in the MIB's favor with how things are playing out.

I think that is why we aren't supposed to get so caught up into who is good and bad between Jacob and the MIB. I think they are just alternate "outcomes" to the two parallel timelines.

Another possible, although not as likely case for Adam & Eve: Daniel Faraday and Charlotte.

yeah i got what you meant about Locke...i'm not sure why I was thinking you meant it was the sideways timeline for the rest! as for the good/evil thing. I guess we'll just see...i don't see LOST not eventually defining sides in the battle. We need to be rooting for our LOSTIES to do something by the end of this season...something meaningful that puts seasons 1-6 into some kind of relevance. And I would assume whatever they're teaming up to do is for Good to vanquish Evil in whatever form that is for LOST. Maybe not....maybe it's just one of those deep introspective shows that is trying to show us that everyone has a story to tell and NO ONE is evil except Keamy lol And that's only because they didn't have time to give us a backstory for him! But i'm sure whatever is going on on the island...this sideways story does factor into it. (probably the most obvious and vague statement i've ever made!) All of that being said....Jacob and MIB are probably both responsible for some bad things that have happened to the LOSTIES. So in that sense, I can see how defining either one as GOOD may not be the way to go here. ugh...i love contradicting myself! :-)

VFX, definitely jealous! I was trying to get tickets for the NYC event they're going to be at in May for the New York Times, but it sold out really quickly. i'll have to think about some questions, do you have anything in mind yet?

So i just read this on dark ufo and it reminded me of the discussion we were just having with MIB being David Shephard (somehow some way)...and Aaron being Jacob....or maybe no one actually said both of them LOL

Now, I don't know if I can buy it...it would be very crazy to pull off. But one thing I did like in the theory is that maybe Daniel Faraday is David's piano teacher! That actually makes a whole lot of sense. Because if the LOSTIES never went to the island...then Eloise never would have pushed daniel to abandon the piano to study science and work his way to the island. woa.... what does it all mean? i have no idea but I like at least THAT part of it!

Okay, well I don't know if David being the MIB and Aaron being Jacob supports my theory or not, but if this turns out to be the case, then did Christian Shepard somehow cause the parallel timelines or the rift between the two since he is the grandfather of both.

yeah there seems to be a whole lot of holes in a potential theory of making David and Aaron MIB and Jacob. Consdering Aaron might exist in both timelines...and David only in the one. If they could pull it off....then things definitely would come full circle for the Shephard family being involved in the Island!

Anyway, interesting thought in Christian. I don't know how he would have caused it but I guess it's possible! i'm more curious to why his body is missing in BOTH timelines. granted...that may be his body walking around the island and not smokey...we still need more evidence! This show is so nuts...as of Tuesday we'll be 1/3 of the way through the season...how depressing is that?! Based on Doc Jensen's article in last week's EW....the season is split into 3 ACTS...so possibly after next week's ep...we actually WILL get some ideas to where this is going. I'm excited! (sorry I can never stay on one topic...when it comes to LOST i am total stream of consciousness!)

Random Musings from a cruising altitude of 34,000 feet over the Pacific

The Kwons

Jin and Sun are actually eloping in LA X – they were discussing this option in Season 1. The money in the suitcase was from Sun’s Dad and will be used open up a restaurant in LA. Somehow, I’m sure they will run into Hurley in their endeavor.

Mirror Mirror Theory

The heavy use of mirrors this season is an offshoot of the “mirror’ plot device in the Star Trek world. In one Star Trek Universe, people are generally more optimistic, happier, and less violent – just like the “off island “ Losties this season (Kate and Charlie being notable exceptions). In the “mirror” Star Trek universe, people were much more violent and desperate – all previous seasons of Lost were raptured with violence and desperation, on and off island.

Just like Star Trek – some, or all of the Losties will eventually step over into their respective mirror universe – one by one. (I think that Desmond is already doing this.) Also, please remember that in the Star Trek Universe, people can be dead in one universe, and alive in the other. I’m just hoping that we will see Mr. Eko (my all time favorite) off island this season, as well as the uber-hot Shannon.

Since Jacob and Mr. Black do not have access to a transporter room, I’m curious as how the Losties will jump from one mirror to the other. In the end, all our beloved Losties will be given a choice of which universe they want to reside in.

For anybody interested, they can go watch the “Mirror Mirror” and “The Enemy Within” episodes of the original Star Trek series.

Jacob, Mr. Smokey and Locke

According to my eight year old, Jacob “infected” Locke when he “flew” out of the building and died off-island; while Mr. Smokey (that’s what my two sons call the smoke monster) “infected” Locke when he “flew” out of the plane and died on the beach. According to my son, Locke was able to walk again because he died and Mr. Smokey “infected” him. Christian was also “infected” at the caves - where his coffin had landed. So, if you believe my son’s theory, Locke has already died three times.

My other son believes that Wallace is actually Lenny – Hurley’s comrade from the loony bin.

STP, welcome back! not a bad thought with the Kwons! We should find out soon enough!

as for the mirror/star trek comparison...it is very intriguing. I just don't like the idea of each person "choosing their fate"....like they all don't have to end up in the same "timeline" or whatever. I'm not sure what result i like though. I guess we'll see!! (btw...we don't know if people can be alive in one timeline and not the other yet...as we are still seeing time 3 years apart) As for Shannon, I think you'll be very happy when we get to the tail end of the season. Haven't heard anything on Eko though :-(

Locke being "INFECTED" since his encounter with Smokey...I can see that....the whole dying 3 times? I just don't know. Yeah, it sure look like he died when he flew out the window and Jacob"revived him" but we have also learned that "DEAD IS DEAD" on this show...they have told us since season 1. So, I really am curious to know where they're going with all of these crazy ZOMBIES walking around now! LOL

Now LEONARD being WALLACE? That I can buy into!...I don't think we ever heard his last name, but I may check ol' IMDB anyway.

Great theories in any case!! And thanks for the huge props on the blog! keep firing those theories out here folks, one of them is bound to have something right in it, right? LOL

Flash Sideways "Time" update: Just rewatched the episode and David's audition was on Friday the 24th. Looking at a 2004 calendar, the only Friday the 24ths that this could be is September (2 days after the plane landed) or December (Christmas Eve). Have to go with September, but that's a FAST turn around!

(btw...we don't know if people can be alive in one timeline and not the other yet...as we are still seeing time 3 years apart)

First off, great catch on how Shannon can still be alive in the alternate timeline since it would be prior to her death on the island.

The flashsideways timeline is supposed to be what happens if flight 815 never crashed (the enhanced episodes say this).

One thing I keep thinking about is the marshall who died the day/night (seemed like within hours of the crash) of the plane crash on the island. Now we have already seen the Kate centric episode which seemed to have a lot of the marshall in it and he didn't die. I guess there may still be a few hours in the alternative timeline for him to die, is that your thinking? Maybe his dying will be part of a big reveal, but I keep thinking Kate could've accidently killed him in the bathroom of the airport.

Also, I have been thinking about the potential hatch site being blown up in the 70's and similar wreckage corresponding to these events in the present day timeline. Doesn't that mean that the hatch no longer existed? My head is starting to hurt now, lol, but doesn't that mean that they created the two timelines? The one in which they crashed on the island leading up to them destroying the hatch site and hence them never crashing on the island? I don't know if I wrote that clearly enough, but hopefully you followed it, lol.

My thinking on "when you're dead, you're dead" thing is that if you die in one timeline, then you aren't necessarily dead in the other one because the events in them can be mutually exclusive.

I guess I am hoping that we don't have to see a bunch of our characters die again like Charlie, Boone, etc. Otherwise, it might have too much of a "Final Destination" feel for my liking.

On my phone again so I'll be quick. I wasn't saying that I think people have to be dead in both timelines. I was saying it would be interesting if people met similar ends off island as they did on the island. Like everything starts off looking better but it ends up not being the better path or something like that. Just pondering lol but I agree just because they're dead in one timeline doesn't mean they have to be in the other. Until we are shown otherwise!

Btw the marshal was okay after the bathroom. He chased her out to the taxi line.

Victoria, I noticed that date too on 2nd viewing. It's 2 days after the flight. Surprised Jack went to work that soon. But he did say in "white rabbit" that he needed it to be over!

David, nice observation on the light and dark and good catch on the instrument, I'll have to check that out!

Goodnight losties and have a wonderful weekend. I'll try to post when I can!

Another thing I just remembered also...When Sun and Frank left the Hydra island to go to the main island following the Ajira 316 "crash", they heard the sounds of the smoke monster in the bushes and not long after met Christian Shephard.At the same time though, Ben was interacting with FLocke back on the Hydra island, when Flocke was sitting by his bedside in the infirmary (Ben had been knocked out by Sun earlier).Am I getting my events mixed up or did MIB/Smokey do a LOT of traveling back and forth between the two islands in that timeframe?

I didn't say Kate killed the marshall in the bathroom. I said that if a character had to die at the same "time" in both timelines that it would have been a clean way to handle it unless he is going to somehow be a part of a big upcoming reveal.

David,

I think it is possible for smokey to travel back and forth in that time frame, but my question is why did Sun and others travel back to present day after the Ajira crash while the other characters traveled back to the 1970's?

Does anyone have a good theory on why Sun and others were in a different timeline that Jack, etc. or is it just another way to incorporate the time travel element of the show without a lot of time travel?

I just finished watching the Lighthouse episode again and had this thought (maybe it has been posted previously?):

What if the reason we haven't seen Christian's body since the crash of Oceanic 815 is because his body is already on the island? What if he is Adam? I have no idea who Eve would be if this is right, but it is a possibility of why Jack can't find his father's body on the island; because it is already there. Also, I find it very convenient that Christian's "ghost" led Jack to a cave where the casket was and it just happened to be right next to two dead bodies.

Just for entertainment of a different sort, here are some prevailing theories on who's coming to the island and why they may or may not be correct:

1.) Desmond Hume. Eloise Hawking, back at the Lamp Post, told Desmond that the Island was not done with him; Jacob told Hurley to move the dial to 108* (4+8+15+16+23+42=108) to get someone to the island and although the name next to 108 says "Wallace", Desmond's last name (Hume) may not be his birth-name (like Miles has a different last name than his parents) and he may have the Scots name "Wallace" (also we know of no Wallace and Desmond Hume's name is absent on the cave wall and in the Lighthouse)); Desmond is living on a boat at sea, so he will inadvertently wind up on the island again, whether he wishes it or not ("The universe has a way of course correcting."); Henry Ian Cusick's name has been in the beginning credits all season so we can expect him to play a significant role.

2.) Daniel Faraday. Faraday calculated the bearings to reach the island when he was on the Science Team so Jacob knows Faraday can reach the Island on his own without the Lighthouse. To do this he was healed at the spring by his mother (and "killer") escaped the temple and lived for 30 years somewhere on the island learning about it, while simultaneously hiding, trying not to effect the future, until he can reveal himself in 2007. 3.) No One: Jack and Hurley completed their task. It was only Jacob's intention to get Jack to see what he saw in the mirrors all along. Its about the journey for Jack to realize who he is.

4.) Jack Shephard: Jacob spoke metaphorically and Jack is the one that is "coming" to the Island. He had to see the lighthouse to undergo a metamorphosis and become the person that Jacob intended him to be from the start. This "new" Jack is the person that comes to the island.

5.) Wallace: Jacob instructed Hurley to set the wheel in the lighthouse to 108. The name on the wheel that corresponds to 108 is "Wallace" even though it is crossed out. "Crossed out" doesn't mean the person can't play a role.

6.) Charles Widmore: Widmore has been determined to get back to the island ever since he left. Jacob has no fear that whoever is coming will find another way to get to the island because Widmore is so determined to find the island that even without Jacob's help, he will keep searching and find it. He has found it before which could be why Jacob is so at ease. Widmore is even more determined now that Ben has been able to return. Since Ben was able to "break the rules", he knows there is a chance for him to get back to the island too. Widmore's affiliation with Jacob or the Man in Black is unknown.

7.) Carole and Aaron Littleton: Kate told Claire's mother, Carole, that Claire was still alive on the island. Carole received a large settlement from Oceanic and is using that money to find the island and her daughter. Aaron is with Carole now, and so he is coming to the island with her.

8.) Alvar Hanso: His name was used in the "ABC special from long ago", usually the DVD packs feature a little thing to introduce an element/character in the next season so Alvar is the person coming.

Yeah...I've been wondering about the Smokey/Locke timeframe....we haven't confirmed that there was actual SMOKE around the barracks when Christian appears...it looks like it. But yeah I agree he can probably travel pretty quickly between places. I was still wondering where he went when he was Flocke and disappeared for a bit when Sun and Ben were at the barracks. I"m wondering now if he went to talk to claire and "APPEAR" as Flocke for the first time. There is the chance that maybe Christian could still be smokey if he appeared as 2 different people to Claire and she CAN'T tell the difference. But I'm still thinking Christian is a different entity for now.

As for why Sun didn't flash back in time...i still don't know but the producers say that while they won't give an answer outright in the show, we might be able to piece it together. So let's keep an eye and ear out for some tidbits!

there could be some foreshadowing with Jack "breaking the cycle"....it was a huge burden that Island Jack has carried with him his whole life....and in Sideways land...he resolves it through his son. We saw a similar thing with Locke accepting his paralysis and accepting LOVE with Helen. I'm still not sure how this all ties in to the Island timeline, but i'm excited to find out!

Nice list of Island prospects there anonymous! One question....a lot of people are emailing me and posting on the comments here about the sum of the numbers being 108....everyone knows that we have known this since season 2 right? lol I'm getting confused why everyone is bringing it up like it's the first time we've figured this out. No offense meant, just have been curious!

Okay, now onto the prospects....i like the idea that Wallace could be another name for Hume. Since it is a very scottish name. I'm not sure why he would have changed his name, but eh who knows?? hmmm...you know what we haven't discussed? What if when Jacob said to MIB "THEY ARE COMING" he was referring to whoever he told Hurley is coming and not the Candidates? Interesting... and that may tie into the SIDEWAYS people coming to the island like you said Sideways Jack. Only issue i have with sideways characters coming to the island...is i think it would be very cheesy if there were 2 versions of the characters on the same instance of the island at the same time! I just don't know where they're going with all of this!!

As for Alvar Hanso....and ABC special? his name was used in season 2 as well (right around the time we learned that the numbers add up to 108 ironically! LOL) It was in the episode ORIENTATION where Pierre Chang/Marvin Candle explained the history of DHARMA and Alvar being a financial backer. I'm gonna guess it's not Hanso coming to the island, but I am still interested in learning more about the Hanso family, since one of them was aboard or owned the Black Rock!

I don't think Eloise resurrected Daniel at the Spring...That dude was totally dead and Eloise went with Jack to get Jughead. Dead is Dead.....we still can't explain Sayid and possibly Claire, but we'll get the explanation soon enough. I could see Aaron coming to the island....don't know about the grandmother..but i guess it's possible...there could be a big ol reunion for Claire and Mum since the last time claire saw her she was in a coma!!

My favorite theory so far is the whole Hume and Widmore clan coming to the island (Desmond, Charlie, Penny, Charles and Eloise)....but due to scheduling conflicts with FlashForward, I don't know if Penny will actually come to the island. SHE BETTER NOT DIE!!!

At this point, I don't think the name "WALLACE" means anything in particular . It was the 108th name but perhaps like Jacob said, the whole Lighthouse trek was for Jack to find purpose, perspective and to be kept safe. Jack did find some sort of perspective and growth in admitting he was broken (like one does in his Dad's AA meetings) and then he smashed the glass wen faced with an incredible realization (like he did in his Dad's AA meeting). I suspect that Jack is now firmly on his trajectory to a heroic sacrifice that will benefit "the good guys" in this loop!

Man...I just read through 187 comments at one sitting! I still have a paper to write today and a marathon to run tomorrow...this blog is soooo addicting!

I am surprised about the lack of comments concerning Iliana. She was touched by Jacob in the hospital, knows about the ash, knew to bring Locke's body to the statue, thinks the pilot might still be a candidate, and also stated to Ben that Flocke is stuck in his present form.

How does she have so much information??

BTW...I am leaning towards Charles Widmore being one of the good guys in the end.

Mive V.Do you have any theories or thoughts on how the Black Rock plays into this final season? and what the relationship may be with MIB. below are some of my questions, thoughts,,

If slaves were on the ship, what happened to them? Could they have fought the Ship's Crew? If all the slaves were killed in a war,and MIB was too, is it possible that The Smoke Monster could be a formation of the slave's souls and MIB? which may in return mean that MIB is actually a good guy.

or did Jacob bring the slaves to the island to free them? and they were ultimately killed? lol! to little information on the ship for me.

Why would MIB want to kill Jabob? unless he has a reason? Why has MIB been out of human form for all of these seasons? since the Black Rock came to shore!

I don't think the Black Rock started the MIB/Jacob duel.Weren't they looking at an old sailing ship in last year's finale?I just assumed it was the Black Rock and this battle between the two has been ongoing for hundreds, possibly thousands of year. I might be misunderstanding Hurley's post:-)

Maybe if there are souls of dead slaves or crewmen for that matter, they could be the whispers heard in the forest.

Probably get a a lot of answers in the Ricard-centric story....Richard and Black Rock in one episode??

I think the Black Rock ship and its inhabitants will be shown to be a very important event in the history of the island, however, there is clear evidence in some of the architecture present on the island that people and civilizations have been coming to the island long before the 19th century.

Love the blog Mike. I haven't been this interested in a tv show since the X-Files which was similar in that it had an incredible storyline, characters and acting but it messed up in that Cris Carter strung it out toooo long and people lost interest especially when Duchovny left. I love that the Lost creators are wrapping up the show this season... although sad, it is the perfect time!

Something still bothering me though and I'd like y'alls input. What was up with Richard visiting Locke when John was 5 years old back in season 4. As I remember Richard even saw a drawing on the wall John made of a pillar of smoke attacking a man. Richard showed him 6 items and asked which thing was John's... The items: a baseball glove, book of laws, vial of ash, compass, comic book, and knife. Richard seems pleased when John picks up the vial of ash then he looks mad when John says the knife is his. If Richard works for Jacob then why this visit? If Jacob sent Richard to see if John was a candidate then obviously he failed and his name would have been crossed off? What's the significance of the knife and how would John have drawn that picture of Smokey???? Any thoughts?

I didn't have time to read all the comments so far, so sorry if someone has already said it. But, I find it ammusing that so far that the answers we're receiving are all "smoke and mirrors." We think we know who the smoke monster is and how mirrors allow insight on/off the island.

do you think that jacob brought the black rock to the island just for richard, or do you guys think there is more of a reason for it, maybe there were more people that he thought could be canidates but only richard turned out to be "useful"(i guess

also i was just thinking that maybe desmond is the one coming to the island, he could be going with widmore and leave penny and charlie so that they are safety so that would take care of the flashforward problem (but then we wouldnt see penny =( )or they shipwreck like he did before, but then theres still the flashforward problem.

i hope there is a richard centric episode! then we would probably see the black rock too (assuming thats what flocke meant when he told richard that the last time he saw him he was in shackles!)

I've been wondering who the Adam & Eve Skeletons were for a couple seasons now, and when the Losties time traveled back last season, i thought for sure we'd get a clear idea of who they were, however, now with seemingly all of them brought 'Back to the Future' its a little harder to pinpoint...so lets go thru the list of possibilities and see what we can eliminate

--I don't think (and hope not) that Darlton would introduce any new characters this season and have them turn out to be the answer to a question that was raised all the way in season 1...So i guess that would rule out any Jack + Wife theories from the supposed alt timeline and anybody else who may come visit the island this season

--Desmond + Penny: We've seen Eloise Hawking tell Desmond that his business on the island is not quite done yet, and based on the Darlton interviews and soundbites, they've alluded to Desmond once again returning to the island again....however, we've also seen him tell Penny that he would "never leave her again" and adamantly say "he'd never return" to the island, which is basically a clue that he def will lol. Soooo since he wouldn't to leave Penny behind again, and since she surely wouldnt want to let him go alone, could it possibly be Des & Pen's corpses?

I know it would require them somehow traveling back in time and dying on the island and thats seemingly outlandish at this point in the story, but hey u never know..

-- Kate & Sawyer: There's plenty of rumors swirling around that plenty of our Losties would be dying off this season...If Kate and Sawyer were to be victims, would that be a spot for their last resting place? They could never be together while they were alive cuz of difficulties and stubborness, but maybe they could be together in death poetically? idk, not a fan of this idea too much cuz again it would require time travel, but hey again, its a theory

--Rose & Bernard: the clearcut favorites for the Adam & Eve title so far....We've seen them living happily back in the 70's, just wanting to be alone and live their life together, and since the Losties have jumped back to the current time, we've yet to see Rose and Bernard back in this time ... Since they found happiness back in the 70's, and showed no interest in partaking in any more adventures, one can see how they could have remained in the 70's...maybe those corpses are a proof of Jughead indeed exploding and killing them while they were getting water from that well or canoodling in the rocks, who knows..

Sure this is seemingly too obvious of a choice for LOST but looking back on rose and bernard history, they're story is always full of those "awww" moments...when we found out that Bernard was actually White it was a nice twist, and from then on they continued with their love story as a nice juxtaposition to the chaos going on with the rest of the Losties...So maybe in a season where some of our fav losties die tragically, their love story wraps up nicely as a moment of happiness in an otherwise sad final season...

Plumbar/DavidI am not really saying that the black rock was the begining of the fued between Jacob and Mib. I believe this is the most historical scene we have in the show so I assume we will get this back story, I am also curious as to why MIB is in human form in that scene watching the boat come in and as one of you said , the 2 appear to have been playing this game so how did MIB become the SM.

Could this be a theory for the end? What if Jacob now takes a human form of one of the O-6, say Jack! and Mib/Jacob battle this war in Jack/Locke's bodies. The final scene is Jack and Locke sitting on the beach but they are not Jack and Locke, it is Jacob and MiB in their bodies and the O6 is living their life in Flash Sideways.!!!!oh yeah, I like the whispers being associated with the Slave souls!!

lots or yes and no answers to "will we find out or see" such and such. It was good stuff. There was another YouTube video with Damon and carlton talking about how their hope is that we are still guessing how the show will end before the final episode airs because that is the beauty and the whole point of lost (mysteries). I'm excited!!

I'll post more later! Vfxdrummer, if you get a chance share your thoughts from paley fest!!